To Change a Life
by SevLovesLily
Summary: WW2!AU: Ludwig and Feliciano are fellow soldiers in a German military squad. For how much they both hate the war, it's ironic how a battle is what brings them together, if only for a night. But neither of them would allow it to only be one night.
1. Chapter 1

**Another story based off of a really long RP I've done, except this was a much longer RP and therefore I'm doing it in multiple chapters. So basically the time in between chapters won't be long at all, and it'll basically be me re-formatting stuff rather than writing. And yes, I know the whole WW2!AU thing a is kind of overdone in Hetalia fanfiction, _especially_ for GerIta, but this is what happened and I like it. So enjoy.**

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Ludwig was tired… so very tired. His body ached and his head pounded, yet he couldn't give in to the overwhelming urge to sleep. Instead, he lay on his stomach in a deep trench, the sounds of guns faint in the distance. Eventually, his gaze landed on the small man curled up near him, the new soldier.

Lying there in the trench, Feliciano was deciding that he didn't like war. He _really_ didn't like war. It was strange that this was only occurring to him now, as he leaned against the damp edge of the trench and held onto his gun—though not at all professionally or in a way that he would be ready to shoot, because he just needed something to make him feel safe.

After a minute or so of his eyes not being focused on anything, as he just wished to himself that he could go home, he glanced over and noticed the soldier nearest to him looking at him—oh, it was the sergeant. Sergeant Ludwig, he was pretty sure the man's name was. He returned the gaze, but didn't say anything. Partly because he wasn't even sure if he had enough strength left today to speak, partly because he was too nervous to.

Ludwig coughed slightly and turned away, hiding his pink cheeks. This had been, after all, a common occurrence. Three times he had been caught watching him, and to be honest, he didn't know why. It was his policy not to get close to the soldiers; in this war, everyone had been dropping like flies.

As a sergeant, he needed to be strong and level headed. Yet, everything about this particular man was odd. He was awfully scrawny and Italian, the only foreigner here amongst his battalion. He was always spacing out and smiled far too much for his position. As much as it bothered Ludwig, he wanted to talk to him, and he really didn't know why.

Feliciano noticed the sergeant looking seemingly embarrassed. Why? The other times, Feliciano had worried that he'd done something wrong and that Ludwig was angry with him—which would not have been a good thing, since he yelled when he was angry. But that had never happened during a battle before, and he couldn't imagine a reason for it now. Was it because he clearly wasn't taking this all like a man, because it was written so clearly on his face that he was a coward and that he would rather run away than fight? ...He supposed so. Feliciano didn't want Ludwig to be angry with him, though—not only because he was scary, but also for other reasons he couldn't explain. So, at once, he moved slightly to arrange the gun in his arms to a proper position and to shift himself to a practical position, even though he still didn't plan on utilizing it.

Having manned up, the German chanced another peek at Feliciano, noticing his shifting and the seemingly worried look and his face. Somehow it pained him, thinking that his staring was bothering him. Ludwig sighed bitterly and sat up, the trench tall enough to cover most of him standing anyway, and pulled out a small notebook. It was often he drew—not that he was any good at it. However, now seemed good to pass the time, and before he noticed, he began to draw the outline of Feliciano's body….

Hearing the sergeant sigh, Feliciano looked over again. He was surprised to see him looking less stern than usual—especially what one would expect of him while a battle was going on somewhere in the distance-and instead rather calm, and... holding a small notebook. With his gun strapped to his back. So... did that mean he didn't have to stay like this? If Ludwig wasn't being super cautious, then he supposed he really didn't have to.

Still, it was tentatively that he relaxed his arms and let his gun rest on the bottom of the trench next to him. Feliciano looked again to the other man, now noticing that he seemed to be busy with something in his notebook. And before he realized that he was talking out loud and not thinking, he said,

"I didn't know you kept a war journal... There must not have been anything exciting to write in it yet."

Ludwig jumped just as he was drawing Feliciano's face, imagining he was touching him instead. Trying to calm his heart, he quickly held the book to his chest, to hide the picture, and stared wide eyed at the Italian, who frowned confusedly in response. He opened his mouth, once, twice, gaping like a fish for words. _What's wrong with me?_ he thought, and again, he looked at the boy. He was just thinking that his eyes reminded him of smooth brown stones, like the ones at his home, when he realized he was staring into those very eyes and had yet to verbally reply to him.

"E-excuse me?" he stuttered slightly, feeling too small for his build.

As Ludwig spoke, he was suddenly nervous, figuring that he had been rude by asking that. Realizing his mistake, he gasped slightly, his face becoming worried, and tried to straighten his back.

"Oh—I-I'm sorry, Sergeant. I didn't see anything you wrote—not that I was looking, Sir...!" He panicked a little, _really_ not wanting to be scolded out here in a trench while a battle was going on, where it was already pretty scary.

Ludwig cursed inwardly and leaned his head in one hand, unconsciously clutching the notebook to his chest. He hadn't felt so stupid and awkward since he was a teenager, trying to impress women. Nowadays he had no time for relationships, but these feelings were the same. The man shook his head and turned a weary eye on the cowering man.

"I… It's alright, I was just drawing; it _is _a little boring out here," he said as calmly and non-intimidatingly as he could. He forced on a smile, though it was small, and laughed lightly. If anything, he wanted to lighten the mood and not think about admitting to himself he was attracted to this man.

…_Did Ludwig just... smile? And laugh?_ Feliciano couldn't remember ever seeing or hearing him do those things. He never seemed like a happy man at all, really... And that thought always saddened him. He thought everyone deserved to be happy, and it had even kept him up at nights before, wondering what made Sergeant Beilschmidt happy. It was so odd, yet so comforting, to see this man smile… and to hear him say that sitting in a damp, dirty trench a ways away from the battle was "boring." Feliciano, less worried now, smiled and laughed slightly as well.

"Drawing...?" Oh, so he wasn't keeping a war journal. Huh, even odder. "I didn't know you drew... I do, too, sometimes... But you don't really seem like the sort of person who would draw when they're bored."

His heart beat faster as he heard that melodious, tinkling laughter and watched a warm smile pass over Feliciano's olive colored face. It got to him every time. Ludwig _was_ a bit of a stern man—well, a lot of one, but it saddened him slightly to think that Feliciano didn't think he was capable of emotion. Perhaps it was the many battles he had been in, the blood that had been shed by his own hands, or the cause of fighting for his country that he no longer understood, but he did find it hard to let loose. Sitting up a little straight, he decided he would be different with Feliciano.

"I don't do it a lot, and I'm not very good...," he murmured a little sheepishly. Had he not been drawing Feliciano with so much focus, he was positive that his current sketch would have been quite embarrassing.

It was even more surprising to hear the sergeant sound so uncertain of himself—he always seemed to know exactly what he was doing all the time. But at the same time, it made him glad, as he had a chance to be the stronger, reassuring one, now. Feliciano immediately leaned forward involuntarily, his eyes widening a little, and said,

"Ah—no, don't say that... I'm sure you're very good." He closed his eyes briefly in a warm smile before he continued. "Before I was drafted, I was... well, I was planning on being an artist. In the Art School that I went to, they always told us that 'art doesn't have to be _good_ for it to be good'... If that makes sense. It just depends on how you see it..." Feliciano's voice started to trail off, becoming somewhat quieter as he realized how strange it felt to be saying this all in a trench. But he decided to continue anyway. "And... you're a really focused and strict person, so I'm sure you're a perfectionist when it comes to what you draw, but I'm also sure that it looks a lot better than you think."

Ludwig's cheeks immediately heated, and he searched the clear eyes before him. He wondered if he knew that he sounded so wise. Feliciano had also read him very well; unfortunately, he was sure he was wrong about his art.

"Thank you... Feliciano." It was the first time he had ever spoken the name, but he smiled at how he sounded. He blushed yet again, beginning to feel like some little girl, noticing that they were both leaning towards each other.

Feliciano really liked the way his name sounded in Ludwig's voice, and he didn't know why. But it was deep and warm and felt like a blanket wrapping around him and keeping him away from the chilling night air and the sounds of war in the distance... as though there was no war going on at all. Noticing the other man blush, he wondered what had him so embarrassed. Perhaps he simply didn't talk to other people often...

"You're welcome," he said, smiling with briefly shut eyes again. "If you didn't mind, I'd really like to see your drawings... not that I'm asking you to show me…." As strangely kind as the sergeant was being, he still didn't want to be rude. But he continued smiling, suddenly finding himself unable to stop.

Ludwig forced himself to not immediately decline; instead he hesitantly looked at the one he wanted to hide. At first, he obviously wanted to say no out of embarrassment, but was it so strange? He often saw artists in his home town casually drawing others, so this wasn't that strange, right? Taking a chance, he flipped to the first page and handed it to Feliciano.

"They… really aren't that good," he said, though unable to look at him while saying it.

Pleasantly surprised that Ludwig was actually willing to show him, Feliciano blinked, his eyes slightly widened, and looked down at the small notebook in his hands. The picture on the first page was actually very good… a self-portrait of Ludwig. He smirked to himself, thinking of the first few weeks of Art School and how they'd told him that the best practice was to first draw yourself, which should be the most familiar thing to you. He went on, flipping through the pages and taking a few seconds to look at each one… Some of them were of random scenery, and some of Ludwig's hand, and then… _Huh_. His smile turning into a curious expression, Feliciano flipped back and forth through the last few pages.

"Some of these…," he started hesitantly, though at the same time rather awed, "are of me." Slowly, he looked up from the notebook to Ludwig's face.

The German fidgeted and looked almost guiltily down at his hands; he had really been hoping that Feliciano would just brush it off. Luck wasn't with him today, it seemed.

"Well, we are always next to each other so I… I mean, there isn't much else for inspiration…." He swallowed and noticed how uncharacteristically small his voice sounded. Honestly, he was a little afraid the other would be irritated by this, or even maybe slightly disgusted.

But Feliciano was too awed by the pictures and even the notion itself to really notice his sergeant's embarrassment or tone of voice that was so unlike him. His smile returned as his eyes moved back down to the notebook, and he continued just looking at the same pictures of him, admiring them. The last one seemed to be of him from just then…. So that's what the other man had been embarrassed about. It made sense, but it also puzzled him that Ludwig, the stern and seemingly emotionless person (most of the time) he was, would get embarrassed over _him_.

"These are very…," he said almost breathlessly, searching his mind for the word he wanted, "…beautiful. I think you have a lot of talent, Ludwig." Feliciano didn't realize that he'd used his superior's first name until a second or so afterwards, and when he did, his smile faltered slightly—even if the sergeant had said _his_ name, it was still disrespectful, and he wasn't sure if the other man would mind….

Ludwig unclenched his jaw, which he had been clenching out of nervousness, and he let out a breath he hadn't been aware of holding. As his heart beat a little bit faster, he found he was more flattered by the fact Feliciano liked them rather than whether they were good or not. "Thank you," he laughed lightly—and felt it reach his eyes for once. "I'm glad you like them; I wasn't too sure if I could draw you, though…." Another laugh and this time he looked up, meeting amber eyes.

The first thing Feliciano felt was relief that Ludwig didn't seem to care about his lack of formality, and the next was another strange wave of happiness at hearing the man laugh. It was richer, deeper this time…. And… the third was slight confusion. His brows knitting together, he gave the other man a curious frown.

"Hm? What do you mean by that…?—that you wouldn't be able to draw me properly, or… that I would get angry?"

He let his laughing trail off at the Italian's question. "Both, really…," he murmured, feelings his palms sweat. He was again beginning to question if it was a normal thing after all and shifted his stance a little, criss-crossing his legs. "I really don't draw very often, so I wasn't sure you would mind," he explained. It amazed Ludwig how easily this boy was withering away his resolve, he hadn't even particularly cared that Feliciano had used his first name. Had it been anyone else, they would have gotten a sharp smack over the head.

"Oh." He supposed that it shouldn't have, considering how much of this side of his sergeant he'd seen in the past twenty minutes or so, but it did surprise him that the other man cared about what he thought. Ludwig was a sergeant—probably one of the toughest sergeants in the entire German army, and he was just a soldier. A relatively new, weak soldier at that.

"Well," he started to say in an almost cheerful manner, "even if I did get angry, you would just tell me super-sternly not to use a disrespectful tone with you, wouldn't you? Heh, I think I would have been too scared to tell you if I minded…." Feliciano laughed again, both at the irony of all that and the bare fact that he really _was_ sitting here, in a trench with the usually-intimidating sergeant, having a casual conversation as though they'd always been friends….

Ludwig didn't really catch the lightheartedness or the irony of it, though. He just looked back down at his hands—was he really that scary? _Of course, _he thought; after all, he strived to be to keep everything and everyone in order. "Well... I think I would respect your opinion. Am I..." He swallowed and glanced in his direction. "Am I really that intimidating to you?"

_He would really respect my opinion...? Wow._ That was a first, and not just for Ludwig. People in general usually didn't respect his opinion at all, but instead treated him like a silly child who simply didn't know how the adult world worked. Hardly anyone really saw him as an adult... but Ludwig, for some strange reason, cared. He decided that he liked the sergeant even more and smiled at him.

"Not right now," he told him, a slight laugh in his voice. "But usually you're kind of intimidating to everyone... not that that's a bad thing!" At this point, it was more that Feliciano simply didn't want to hurt Ludwig's feelings than that he was afraid of the other man. "We all just know you're not the kind of man to be messed with—and that's a good thing, isn't it? ...I'd really like to be like you, actually," he added, his voice quieter now as he moved his eyes downward and started picking at a bit of dried mud on his pants. "It's nice, trying to enjoy life all the time like I do... but no one ever takes me seriously."

At Feliciano's words, Ludwig looked up again and turned to face him, and his brow instantly furrowed. "N-no, you should be yourself. I don't think it would be very fun to talk to someone exactly like me." He cleared his throat and absentmindedly watched as the Italian picked away the mud, thinking. Ludwig wasn't good with compliments, so he was unsure of how to state his appreciation. "Ah... Thank you, though." he decided, and let a small smile cross his face. "I think I'd like to be more like you as well."

Looking up at him, Feliciano gave Ludwig a strange look. It seemed as though he was learning that everything he knew about Ludwig was wrong, and all in a rather unlikely place. But the other man's words made him happier than he could ever have expected to be in this war, let alone while sitting at the bottom of a trench. He leaned further against the side of the trench, though he tried to keep any mud off of his face, and he picked up the gun to move it to the other side of him so that it was easier to sit.

"Really? ...Why would you want to be like me? You and other people always tell me I'm not serious enough... And you're already really strong, in a lot of ways. I wish I could be that strong...," he sighed, making a sort of a pouting expression. "But I don't think I ever will be. People even say I look like a girl."

"Because your smile is nice, and you... have a quality of connecting with others that I couldn't have," Ludwig said immediately. It was true, after all. Feliciano was very good with people and had found them places to stay and even extra provisions from charmed civilians. It was that childlike spirit about him that made him hard to truly dislike. As for looking like a girl... Ludwig looked up to study his features. He was short and had a slim build, but if anything made him look feminine, it was his eyes.

Feliciano had beautiful eyes, they were large and despite their dark color they beamed out living light. They were perfect for his slightly rounded cheeks and shaggy hair that framed the orbs. "I think," he debated the best way of putting it, "you look fine to me," his face turned crimson to his ears but he did his best to hold the other's gaze.

Again, warmth started spreading through his chest, and Feliciano wasn't sure why. But he wasn't really thinking about it all that much, as he'd always thought feelings weren't something to think about. They were just supposed to happen.

"Thank you, Ludwig," he said softly and quietly, genuinely very flattered. Sure, women told him he was cute all the time, but simply being told that he "looked fine" by Ludwig was something completely different, and so much better. "Your smile is nice, too... But I suppose it's better that you don't do it often, because then it's more special when you _do_ smile." With that, Feliciano paused, just listening to the fading gunshots and screams for a second—but then he tried to forget them. "...Not many people ever get to see your smile, do they?"

Unaffected by the screams, he sighed and let his eyes slip closed. "No, no they don't." A pained smile replaced his other as he was lost in recollection. Ludwig never had time for smiling; everything he had done from the point of becoming a man was meant to be serious. His school work, and then building himself up to fit the role of the perfect sergeant. He didn't have time to relax or enjoy himself. And yet, everything about Feliciano was calm and relaxed. It filled the air around him and seeped into Ludwig. It was infectious.

He released his clenched muscles and murmured, "I don't often find a reason to." And he could only hope Feliciano would understand what he meant.

Which he did; and it made it him sad again. He could only manage what kind of life the sergeant must have had up until now. Feliciano could only remember one time in his life when it had been difficult for him to be happy, and that had been a year or so after he'd realized that a friend who'd left and promised to come back never would.

Not knowing quite what to say at first, Feliciano unthinkingly reached out slightly and gently grabbed Ludwig's hand, as he might have done while flirting with a woman, then gave it a small, reassuring squeeze. He didn't let go afterward, while he spoke.

"I usually feel like I have to smile, even without reason, or else I'll get too depressed or go mad... But... you've smiled more than I've ever seen you smile since we started talking."

Ludwig jumped slightly at the touch but didn't jerk away. Feliciano's hand was warm and smaller than his, so he gently curled his fingers around it. He took a shaky breath and felt his chest tighten. This one small touch was beginning to send little pulses of warmth throughout him. He struggled to control his breathing and subconsciously leaned toward the smaller man.

"I can't imagine you being anything but happy." His grasp then tightened slightly, though not enough to hurt.

"Heh... See, people seem to think you have no emotions, and everyone thinks that I only have one." He smirked slightly, pausing a moment just to pay attention to how Ludwig's strong, firm hand feels around his. "Sure, I am happy a lot of the time... but that's because it's easier."

Feliciano glanced down for a moment to look at their joined hands, and his heart skipped a beat or two when he really noticed how desperately the other man seemed to be holding on. Something felt very intimate about it, but at the same time forbidden. And also familiar—but he couldn't pinpoint what exactly it was.

It was only then that he really started to feel nervous. Swallowing a little, he asked a question that had been lingering in his mind for a long time: "What... what makes you happy, Ludwig?"

Ludwig felt different. That's all he could explain it as. He took his time considering the question, and no matter how many times he thought it over, Feliciano's face came up in his mind. Whether he was smiling, laughing, or being overly dramatic about training, his face was there. He didn't register the way his free hand lifted until it was level with the other's face, or how his thumb swept across it gently.

They weren't only alone in this trench; in his mind, no one existed. A tingling sensation spread from his fingertips to the rest of his body at the feel of the soft skin they pressed into ever so lightly. His lips parted slightly.

"You do," he breathed, staring deeply enough into Feliciano's eyes that he was sure he was going to fall in. It wouldn't have been so bad, either.

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**Like I said, it was based off an RP, so pretty much all endings will be cliffhangers. Because the story is taking place all in one day. Anyway, if you liked it, please review and tell me what you thought! ^_^**


	2. Chapter 2

**AND HERE I AM WITH THE SECOND CHAPTER. Also, I forgot to mention in the first one that the person I did the RP with was _MudkipxSebby_ on here, so basically half the stuff on here is her writing, and she was a pretty awesome writer.**

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Feliciano hadn't been expecting that. He _really_ hadn't been expecting that. Then again, he hadn't expected any of this conversation to happen in the first place. But the gentle touch of Ludwig's thumb on his face and the breathy confession pushed his heart overboard. He suddenly felt a little dizzy, for everything was so surreal... It _must_have been a dream, but at the same time it couldn't have been because he _felt_ everything. The sergeant he'd become strangely fond of was sitting across from him... very close to him, actually, and he was caressing his face and staring into his eyes, and Feliciano was staring back...

Slowly, he brought up his own free hand to cover the one that Ludwig had on the side of his face, holding it and keeping it there. He continued to stare at the other man wordlessly, unable to say anything back for the moment, and unconsciously leaned closer to him. All he could do was swallow again.

Meanwhile, Ludwig's heart was hammered in his chest, and with each beat it felt as if his entire body moved and jerked, yet he was perfectly still. And he almost jerked when Feliciano's hand slid over his and he leaned closer; his eyes burned into his own and his mouth went dry. Every fiber in his body begged him to move forward, to partake of him, to ravish those sweet lips and touch soft skin. All of him screamed to break every single rule, discipline and aspect of his entire upbringing. He loved it.

Feliciano had been slowly wearing away his resolve, and now it was broken, completely demolished. He had so much to lose, yet an entire, better world was in those eyes and that pink-tinged face, and he knew it all would be enough. He leaned forward and pressed his quivering lips to Feliciano's.

Though he'd certainly had enough time to see what Ludwig was doing, he was still very surprised to feel that. Those lips on his. Ludwig's lips felt so much different than any woman's—they were much too strong, and they were contoured differently... but they were so uncharacteristically nervous. Even so, they felt so much better... Never before had the touch of lips sent such shivers down his entire body or made his heart pound so hard that it seemed to be trying to escape his chest. After his initial shock wore off, he tilted his head slightly and pushed his head forward, returning the kiss softly.

Feliciano had never kissed a man before, and he had never kissed someone bigger than him... but the feeling was as amazing as it was strange to him. He was aware that this sort of thing between two men was frowned upon, but he didn't care. He threw all premise away and moved the hand he was using to cover the other man's from his face to Ludwig's neck, then pulled him closer. He just wanted Ludwig closer, Ludwig's lips more deeply against his, Ludwig's body heat mixing with his.

For the few moments in which Feliciano hadn't kissed back, Ludwig was sure he had made a horrible mistake. His ran cold, only to be heated up again as the soft lips worked back softly against his. He wondered why such a thing could be forbidden, and when that thin, lean arm wrapped around his neck and pulled him closer, he lost himself. He moved the hand he had placed on Feliciano's face and wrapped his arm around the small waist. He pulled their bodies flush together and kissed him fervently while still keeping his actions gentle. Ludwig wanted to show Feliciano what he had to offer, to leave the Italian breathless like he did to the German.

And as their bodies were brought together completely, Feliciano gasped against Ludwig's lips—he couldn't remember ever feeling like this before. It felt as though there was nothing else on the earth but them, he was being completely enveloped by the other man and taken far away from the war, from the sound of echoing gunshots, from this trench... If he had been able to form a single coherent thought while every part of him was occupied by the other man, he'd have thought of how he never would have expected Ludwig to be this passionate in bringing their lips and tongues and bodies together like this.

Still wanting him closer, Feliciano let go of Ludwig's hand and moved that arm up to wrap it around the man's neck, along with the other. He began to move one hand up into Ludwig's hair when he suddenly heard a noise considerably louder than the gunshots—what sounded like a small explosion. It startled him enough to make him involuntarily gasp and break the kiss and go wide-eyed with fear, though he clutched onto Ludwig more tightly. His first instinct was to look up despite being sure he wouldn't see anything, but he forced himself not to. He didn't want to. He didn't want to think about all the people who may have just died, whether German or Russian. His breathing was sporadic as he kept his face an inch from Ludwig's.

The other man pulled back to watch the mushroom cloud rise in the distance. It was far away enough that it had barely disturbed the earth around them, yet he saw the fear in Feliciano's eyes. He thought for a moment and then stood, pulling up the smaller man with him. He planned on taking them to the barracks in the underground bomb shelter. He had an office there, where no one would bother them. That, and he wouldn't have to watch those eyes widen in fear at every bomb.

"Come on." He tugged lightly at the other's hand, beckoning him as he struggled to regain his breath from their earlier activities.

Being pulled up also pulled him back into reality, somewhat away from the fear and the echo of the explosion in his mind. Looking straight into Ludwig's eyes, Feliciano gripped his hand tightly and just nodded, wanting nothing more than to get away from this battle. So he followed the other man to where he was pulled, just feeling safe with him and not caring that he had left his gun in the trench.

He led them through the muddy trench lines, passing several other men either sleeping or passing their time with games or small talk. Ludwig returned his hard cold stare, knowing they would assume the small soldier he was pulling behind him was in for a lecture. Soon, they approached the concrete doorway and Ludwig conversed gruffly in German with a guard for a moment before he let them.

They trudged through the long, cramped hallways for a while, Ludwig having to duck a little for his height, before they came to a solitary room with "Beilschmidt" written on a small plaque. He let Feliciano in first before shutting the door behind them, throwing the lock, and the Italian wasted no time in letting out a gasp of relief as he caught his breath, leaning against the wall of the office. He could hear absolutely nothing else but Ludwig's breathing, and he was glad for it. He didn't want to hear the war anymore, no matter how much of a coward he supposed that made him.

"...Why didn't we do that earlier?" he said quietly after a couple seconds of silence, and then he broke out in breathy giggles, leaning further against the wall.

Ludwig let out his own sigh of relief and smiled slightly at the laughter; it was absolutely calming. "I didn't think about it, sorry," he mumbled, letting himself chuckle as they both seemed out of breath. He liked the way the Italian leaning against the wall in the small cramped room made him seem vulnerable, but he quickly banished the thoughts.

When he was finished getting all the giggles out, Feliciano looked at Ludwig as he continued to lean against the wall, letting his chest rise and fall deeply with his breaths. He smiled softly at the other man's calm look, unconsciously feeling his own lips slightly and remembering all that he was feeling several minutes ago, before the bomb.

The motion entranced Ludwig, who unconsciously licked his own lips. He wanted to feel more of him, he needed it. Slowly, he moved so that he stood in front of Feliciano, placing a finger under his chin to lift his gaze.

He placed their bodies together and huskily whispered, "Would you like to try again?"

An unbearably pleasant shiver ran down his spine upon feeling Ludwig's body against him again and hearing him whisper like that. While standing up, though, he felt so much shorter... Still, he wanted nothing more, now that they were alone in the office, to continue that. It wasn't as though he was going to go, "Oh, no, I think I've had enough for tonight, thank you." There could never be enough.

"Yes...," he said breathlessly, slightly nodding as he looked up at Ludwig, his hands moving seemingly by themselves up to the man's muscled upper arms. He didn't care if it even got anywhere; he just wanted to keep kissing him, keep being so close to him...

Ludwig shuddered at the feel of those small arms on his own and hungrily took his lips. Feliciano's mouth was absolutely delectable, warm and sweet. Using his sudden confidence, he let his large hand travel around the small body. He finally settled with one arm wrapped around his waist again and his other hand creeping under the stiff uniform to caress warm and soft olive skin.

Ludwig's... hands... on him... _Oh._ The feeling was so foreign to him—to have a large, calloused hand feeling him like that... and yet he couldn't imagine any better feeling in the world. What had he been doing his whole life, going after women? All his past relationships had been nothing compared to this... This was... _bliss_.

Feliciano melted into Ludwig, wanting everything. Getting a bit more confidence of his own, he brought a hand up to the back of Ludwig's head to tangle his fingers in his hair, not caring how sweaty it was, and he moved the other to the top of the other man's chest, his fingers curling around the collar of his uniform and tugging it slightly downward—and Ludwig growled like some wild, horny animal at being forcefully pulled down. He liked this new, slightly aggressive, side to Feliciano. It made his blood hotter and lightly bit down of a plump bottom lip as his hands hurriedly began to work at the buttons and straps of the dirty combat uniform that separated him from the delicious skin beneath.

Feeling his hair get pulled a little, he let out his first audible moan at how good it felt, and his assault on the fabrics became more rushed.

His immediate reaction to having his uniform being practically ripped off of him as Ludwig tried to get it off was to try and start undoing the buttons on the other man's uniform as well, but he quickly realized how difficult that would be with large, muscular arms in the way. So instead, he started pulling his arms out of the jacket's sleeves in order to help. All the while, he arched his neck back and kept kissing Ludwig as passionately as he could—and he couldn't help but let out a soft moan when his lower lip was nipped.

Ludwig let loose another growl as he heard the soft moan and pulled the both of them backwards until the backs of his calves hit the small cot that he never used in the corner of his office. He gently lowered Feliciano down, taking a moment to admire the way his skin glowed in the dim light of the hanging lamp, before he licked, sucked, and tasted every inch of it as it was revealed.

Feliciano was staring up at the pale man above him before Ludwig lowered himself and started to... do _everything_. How... _Oh God_, that mouth almost felt better on his neck and chest than it did on his own mouth. It almost felt like he was being worshipped, with how much the man who had until recently just been his sergeant was dragging his tongue over his naked torso... And in that moment, it seemed utterly impossible and therefore amazing that this man would return the feelings he hadn't even been sure he had.

"Lud... wig...," he moaned breathily, clutching at his hair as he felt his collarbone being sucked. He hadn't even known that could be such an erogenous place for him...

Oh, Ludwig _liked_ that… he really liked that. He was sure he even loved the way his named dripped breathlessly out of those honeyed lips. It was pure ecstasy…. He continued to ravish the naked torso beneath him, at the same time leaning awkwardly on one elbow to undo his own uniform. "Gott… Feliciano, say it again," he breathed heavily against the heated flesh. Ludwig let his lips hover a moment before taking one of the Italian's pert nipples into his mouth, giving a hard suck.

"Ah—Ludwig...!" he cried out, still breathless but slightly louder. The fingers that were tangled in the German's hair clutched tighter seemingly on their own, and Feliciano involuntarily arched his back, pushing his chest upward. At the same time, almost by default, his hips and the beginnings of a bulge in his pants rolled upward into what he was pretty sure was Ludwig's stomach.

The accidental contact had Ludwig, for the first time, realizing just how aroused and hard he was. The Italian hadn't even touched him that much and here he was getting off on just the sight of him and the sweet sounds he made. His erection was slightly painful in the confines of his pants, but he just to ignore at the moment, choosing instead to roll his hips roughly down into the other.

The sensation of having Ludwig grind his groin into his own went all throughout his body, and Feliciano immediately bucked his hips upwards again, this time on purpose. Without his realizing it, his hands slid out of Ludwig's hair, down his smooth back, and then to his hips, which he grabbed and pulled downward, further into his.

"Feliciano," he groaned. The friction was too good, he could feel himself begin to get more feral. He wanted nothing more than to just rip their pants off and screw him like a wild animal into the mattress, but he didn't want to scare the writhing mess beneath him.

Instead, he pulled back as best he cloud to hover over Feliciano. "H-how far do you want to take this?" he asked, cursing himself for his sudden nervousness. Absentmindedly, he let one hand stroke soft auburn locks.

The sudden lack of skin pressing on his was slightly disappointing, but it brought him unexplainable happiness that Ludwig was asking him what he wanted—as if it wasn't obvious by how hard he'd being grinding upwards into him. And that he was stroking his hair so softly, so lovingly... Feliciano was silent for a second, as he simply wanted to keep looking at Ludwig's face. He really did have a very handsome face, and those eyes staring into his were just the bluest and most amazing things.

"The farthest," he breathed out, his eyes now half-lidded as he looked up at the other man. "I want all of you, Ludwig... everywhere." The way he said it was almost like pleading, but he didn't realize it.

Those words sent shivers throughout his body, and he knew he was a lucky man, one that didn't deserve any of this in the least. He was selfish, though; he _was_ going to have Feliciano.

"Alright," he whispered, leaning their foreheads together and giving a small, innocent kiss. Sitting up, Ludwig shed what was left of the top of his uniform and began to undo Feliciano's pants. He reached a large hand to cradle his cheek as he did so; he wanted the smaller male to feel everything that was going on and keep him calm.

Feliciano let out a long, audible breath and smiled almost dazedly up at Ludwig while he undressed the both of them. The sight of his bare chest above him was a rather nice one... He wanted to reach up and feel the toned muscles of his chest and abdomen, but Ludwig was sitting just slightly too far out of reach. So he waited, just watching the man silently and feeling his chest rise and fall deeply.

When he felt the hand on his cheek, Feliciano felt a slight shiver apart from everything else—it wasn't arousing, but it was just... nice. It made his heart flutter to see how gentle Ludwig was. Slowly, he leaned into the hand and turned his head around a little, then closed his eyes and kissed the palm of Ludwig's hand.

And that simple sweet action made him pause slightly in his ministrations. He looked into the other's serene face for a moment longer, feeling his chest tighten with a strange but not unpleasant feeling. Suddenly, it wasn't just the need for release that clouded his mind, but rather all that was Feliciano. He would have never guessed he would end up with this small and charming man in a situation such as this.

However, as he finally succeeded in ridding them both of clothes, it felt too right. It was almost scary how comfortable he was with him, he didn't feel that pang of nervousness. Instead he was overwhelmed with the desire to make Feliciano writhe and feel worshiped under his touch.

For a moment all he could do was breathe in his scent as he lowered his body over his. The feeling of skin on skin made him feel as if he were being dipped in a hot, velvet liquid. Ludwig buried his nose into the others soft hair and breathed.

To Feliciano, having the warmth of Ludwig's body close in on him until there was no more distance between them was simply the best feeling. Feliciano wanted to wrap his arms around the German's back and never let go... And it seemed, in this state, he was super-aware. He could feel Ludwig's heart beating against his, he could feel those strong hands softly caressing his neck and chest, and he could feel Ludwig burying his nose in his hair. It was all too much, all too amazingly unreal.

The other man's neck was arched and exposed directly in front of him. Shifting his head slightly and bringing up a hand to the back of Ludwig's shoulder blade, he pressed his lips to his neck. He would have kissed everything else above him, too, if his position would allow it.

Ludwig let a small moan leave his lips and shifted so he could have Feliciano in his lap. He supported his back with ease as they rose and he moved his mouth closer to Feliciano's ear. He knew what he wanted to say, but he let his lips linger there, lightly brushing them against the soft lobe and releasing a shaky breath.

"You're beautiful," he whispered, letting his arms relax around the slim form.

He hadn't expected the sudden shift of their bodies, but he didn't mind. He hadn't expected Ludwig's whispered words, either, and those sent shivers down his neck and spine; he shuddered slightly within the other man's arms. For a few seconds that felt like they were being stretched into much longer, he simply breathed, trying to feel their naked bodies together. He wanted to feel everything.

But he then stretched his neck slightly and tilted his head so that he could get his own lips next to Ludwig's ear and admit in a soft whisper, "No one has ever told me that before..." He unconsciously tightened his hold around Ludwig's upper back as he said it.

"Hmm," he laughed slightly, "How could they not?" Ludwig smiled down at his sweet face and began to pepper it with kisses. He never imagined he could be so affectionate, but this wasn't normal to start, so he figured he could get away with it. As he kissed, the German moved his hands to feel over Feliciano's back.

Even for all the weeks in mud and sweat, the skin was smooth. Ludwig marveled at how easily his calloused hands slid over it and how delicate the sharp shoulder blades felt. He let his hand trail down each and every bump of his spine and stole a small kiss.

Left breathless by the peppered kisses on his face, he let out a small laugh and let his hands slide down Ludwig's shoulders and arms, feeling every curvature of muscle and where his biceps were so firm and defined... He'd never imagined a man's arms would be such a good thing to feel. Well—not just any man. Only Ludwig.

"People say that I am 'cute,'" Feliciano answered quietly, leaning his forehead somewhat against Ludwig's cheek and softly feeling his neck now. "Never 'beautiful'..."

Ludwig shuddered at every touch and subconsciously flexed each muscle as hands ran over them. Feliciano was, indeed, cute. It was cute when he got tired after training or fire practice and lolled behind, it was also cute when Ludwig was forced to yell at him to get up and he would rub sleep out of his bleary eyes as his mussed hair fell around them. Here, though, with his eyes half closed in simple pleasure and body wanting with his skin aglow, he was a masterpiece. Feliciano was a fine work of art that Ludwig could touch to his heart's content.

"You're both," he mumbled, letting his lips trail from his jaw to suck lightly at the patch of skin just below his ear. All the while he let his rough hands marvel at the smooth skin of the Italian's back. He traced every curve and dip and let his fingers gently caress each bump of Feliciano's long spine.

Letting out a soft, breathy moan, Feliciano tilted his head to the left to give Ludwig more access and unconsciously pressed himself tighter against him. He absolutely loved being touched like this... and he wanted to touch the German back, give him the same feeling….

So, closing his eyes, he allowed his small hands to wander back up to Ludwig's shoulders and down his back, feeling his sides and eventually making it to the firm muscle that separated his back from his... ass. It felt very nice under his hands, and in the next second, he was sliding his fingers just slightly under the hem of Ludwig's boxers and tracing the skin there, feeling the huge difference between that and the rest of his body.

At the feeling of Feliciano's hands on his body, Ludwig bucked his hips. Every part of him shivered and he sucked harder on the offered skin, pulling away with a soft pop to admire the mark he had left. As the hands wandered under his boxers, he took the smaller man's earlobe into his mouth. His whole body thrummed with over-sensitized shocks at the hesitant touches, and he hoped his sucking and licking was enough to show he wanted more, so much more, of those hands on him.

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**Things may or may not get smutty. Just kidding, things WILL get smutty. Hence the Rated M. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Just a warning: This chapter contains sexual things. Not actual sex, but sexual things. But I'm sure if you're reading this story, that's a huge part of _why_ you're reading it, so enjoy~**

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Feliciano couldn't—_Oh Dio_, he had never known having his earlobe sucked would feel like that. It felt so sinful, so forbidden... and he loved it. He bucked his own hips in return to the friction Ludwig's movement had made, at the same time realizing that his arousal was straining in his boxers and pressing firmly into the other man, who seemed to be just as hard.

He moved his hands further into Ludwig's boxers until he could grab the firm flesh and softly shape the rounded muscle with the sides of his hands. Getting a wave of confidence again, he moved his hands more to the sides and squeezed as hard as he could, feeling the German's bottom tense beneath them.

Immediately, Ludwig chuckled darkly, pulling his mouth away from the tender lobs. "You little _schleichen_," he purred. He shifted so he could place a hand on Feliciano's torso, lightly dragging it down to the hem of his boxers. When he saw that the man wouldn't pull away, he delved lower, slipping under the waistband to cup the hardness in his hand. He softly stroked it, able to fit near all of it in his hand.

At Ludwig's sudden grip of his arousal, he couldn't help but throw his head back and moan in pleasure. It was enough to dizzy him again—even with his eyes half-open, he could barely see anything but stars for a few seconds. His hands involuntarily squeezed Ludwig's ass even harder, as the rest of his body was clenching or flexing as well.

"Ludwig...," he gasped, bucking his hips forward, into the man's wonderful hand.

"Yes?" he asked teasingly, putting more pressure into his rubbing as he placed his lips under the other's jaw. "What is it?" Ludwig asked.

"Don't... stop, ah...!" Feliciano groaned, writhing slightly in Ludwig's grip and continuing to bend his head back in ecstasy. Seemingly of their own accord, his legs wrapped themselves around the other man, pulling him even closer. He kept his hands in the other's boxers, but moved them around to the front so he could take Ludwig's own hardness in his hand and rub, trying to make the German feel the same way he did.

He stifled a groan and—_verdammt_, that felt good. Having those hands on his member made want him even more. With ease, Ludwig hooked his thumbs into the other's boxers and pulled, leaving him bare as he kissed a trail for Feliciano's chest to just above his erection, eyes never leaving his face.

Feliciano let out a gasp of relief as his erection was freed from the restraint of his boxers, and then more gasps as he felt Ludwig kiss down his chest. He kept staring into those blue, lustful eyes, even as he was forced to lie back on the bed and let go of the other man's hardness. Being completely naked should have made him feel vulnerable, he supposed, but he felt completely safe with Ludwig. And as the German stopped just short of his aching erection, he had a feeling he knew what was coming next, and the thought thrilled him.

Catching the lusty excited glint in Feliciano's eyes, Ludwig no sign he was going too far and placed one last kiss before moving to his erection. He brushed his nose up its length, breathing in the unique but quaint musk before letting his tongue glide over the head. Slowly, he let half of the turgid flesh into his mouth before sucking lightly, enjoying the taste.

"Ah... L-Lud... wig...," he moaned in between shuddering breaths, feeling the pleasure the German was giving him surge through his whole body. He felt every muscle in his body tense, and he had to clutch the fabric of the cot very heard to keep himself from writhing too much—though he couldn't stop himself from bucking his hips upward.

Ludwig took the length into his mouth but held his hips down to keep from choking. Grinning, he hollowed out his cheeks and sucked harder, letting his tongue tease at the vein.

Having his hips pinned to the cot was almost like torture, though Feliciano was glad for it, since he didn't want to thrust too hard into Ludwig's mouth. He moaned again, this time deeper and longer, and it didn't even sound like his voice to him anymore. He moved his hands from the cot to the other man's head, tangling his fingers in his blonde hair and directing it in his own rhythm, though he tried his hardest not to push down too hard.

Smiling at this, Ludwig continued, letting him thrust just a little to sate his need and enjoyed watching him clawing at the sheets.

Feliciano wrapped what he could of his legs around Ludwig's back and continued to gasp and moan, making no attempt to hold them in. Feliciano already felt close, and he didn't know how much longer he could take this...

But suddenly, Ludwig pulled away and wiped his mouth. He leaned forward and nuzzled Feliciano's neck before looking in his face. "I need to get something," he apologized, then got up to walk over to his desk. He could ignore his need now, knowing what was coming. He just needed a certain little bottle...

Feliciano nodded, still in a haze of pleasure, and watched Ludwig as he searched his desk. Licking his lips, he tried not to get too impatient, as he was pretty sure what the German was looking for….

And finally, he found what he was looking for. A small bottle of lotion, just in the very bottom of the top drawer in his desk. Ludwig turned around and walked back to the cot, smiling at the breathless Italian there. The bed creaked slightly as he sat in between his legs, parting them a little more. "Have you done this before?" he asked, meaning for it to be more of a joke than anything. No one this beautiful could be left alone for long.

"Not with a man," he breathed, staring up at Ludwig's face and meeting his eyes with his own. Then he swallowed slightly, but not so much with nervousness as it was with want. "Have you ever... been with a man before?" His voice got slightly quieter as he asked that.

Well, he hadn't expected that. Did that mean this was all new to him? Being dominated by a man… that had to be a sharp turn from his normalcy with females. It made him nervous but happy at the same time…. Sure, he had the pressure of being even more gentle, but that meant he was probably the only man he'd ever been with. After all, he seemed so willing.

"Just once, but it didn't mean anything," he replied, remembering that time. It had been a few years back; he'd had a break down and drank a little too much. The man had been gone when he had woken up, and he was thankful, not wanting to face the fact he had just screwed another male.

It seemed different now, though—he wanted to make it mean something with Feliciano. He rubbed his thigh softly and hoped he understood that he wouldn't be using him.

It wasn't difficult to notice that the man above him seemed slightly nervous, as though he was put off or surprised by what Feliciano had said. He got slightly worried for a second, not wanting to do that to him. And he couldn't say he had expected Ludwig to have been with other men before, but it wasn't extremely surprising.

"You're much better than any woman, though," he told him, unconsciously widening the gap between his legs a little more for him at the soft touch.

Ludwig's eyes softened as he smiled, letting out a small breath. "I could say the same about you." He winked, though he felt a little silly. Ludwig poured out a generous amount of the lotion onto his fingers, rubbing them slightly together to warm it. He gently circled his entrance, placing kisses the insides of Feliciano's thighs. "Ready?" he asked soothingly.

He gasped slightly at the pressure—he knew how this worked, and he was prepared for it, but he had never been touched down there before. It was a new feeling, even though he honestly liked it very much already.

"Yes," Feliciano told him, nodding and closing his eyes.

Slow and gentle, Ludwig began to push his finger in. "Tell me if it hurts…." He trailed off, extremely focused now as it seemed his finger was being pulled in. That was strange for his first time, though he doubted Feliciano lied to him. Ludwig only shook his head and decided to pick up where he left off on the boy's cock. He hadn't let him reach his climax for the sole reason of reducing discomfort during stretching.

Nodding again, Feliciano bit his bottom lip slightly to keep from crying out in case it did end up hurting too much. And there was a little pain, but it was the sort that came along with so much pleasure that you didn't want it to stop. Especially when he felt Ludwig's mouth over his erection again, and there were several waves of pleasure going on down there at once.

"Ah...," he half-gasped, half-moaned when Ludwig's finger was far in and hit something that hurt just a bit too much.

Ludwig heard the sound and stopped his finger. "Just relax," he murmured, pulling away briefly from Feliciano's cock before just teasing with his tongue. The Italian was doing very well, and Ludwig appreciated how much he was trying to not show discomfort.

"Okay...," he breathed, nodding slightly again. He kept his eyes closed, as he just wanted to focus on how all this felt, for now, without the distraction of seeing anything. He took a deep breath and tried not to move his bottom, and he soon got over the slight pain of that one stretch. "I'm... You can keep... going..."

He nodded and kissed his thighs again, this time sucking just at the junction of his thigh and pelvis. Ludwig drew the finger out, then back in, he continued for a few minutes before gently adding another.

Feliciano let out a moan at the addition of another finger, but Ludwig was good enough at preparing him that stretching a bit more really wasn't that painful at all.

"Ah... Ludwig, m-more...," he groaned through his teeth, uncontrollably arching his hips a little upward again.

The moans were starting to get to him, making his own cock assert itself even more. He still made sure to stretch him properly, scissoring his fingers before he added one last one, hoping it would be enough. Again, he bent to take the erection in his mouth, knowing this one would be more uncomfortable.

It did add a little more pain, but not quite enough for Feliciano to watch Ludwig to stop. He'd really had no idea he would even stretch this much, though... It seemed strange that any man would be able to. But once again, he had a warm mouth over his erection and the pleasure was definitely enough whatever pain the pressure inside him might have been...

And then—_oh God_, it was too much. Everything in his mind exploded at once, and he cried out Ludwig's name rather loudly his manhood had its release in his mouth.

Ludwig barely managed to swallow all of it, as he had been surprised. A small amount dripped onto his chin, but he paid it no mind as he watched Feliciano writhe in that blissful state of afterglow. Ludwig smiled and removed his fingers, wiping any excess lotion on the thin, rough sheets.

"Are you alright?" he ventured, still wanting to make this one hundred percent pleasurable.

Still in a state of bliss, Feliciano gave a slight giggle and wiped some of the sweaty hair out of his face.

"Perfect," he told Ludwig, smiling lovingly up at him and having the sudden urge to caress that sharply and beautifully angled face.

Ludwig smiled and wiped the rest of the cum from his mouth; it hadn't really tasted bad. More on the sweet side than bitter. He returned the smile and lightly laid his head on Feliciano's slim chest, listening to his heartbeat as it sped. He figured he would wait till he had a chance to catch his breath before continuing. Also, the German was able to just enjoy the smooth skin against his face, not to mention the near intoxicating scent.

It was rather nice to relax and have Ludwig's head on his chest... And it gave Feliciano a chance to softly cup the man's cheek in one hand and use the other to just run it through his hair. He breathed deeply, letting his heartbeat calm down a little and smiling softly.

"You're rather good at that, you know...," he said in somewhat of a soft laugh, continuing to stroke Ludwig's hair.

"Thank you, it's not a common thing," he chuckled, nuzzling his head into the others hands as they softly stroked. He didn't really do that often, only a couple times. Come to think of it, he _had_ done some strange things—perhaps he just pushed them all aside?

He shook the thought away and let his hands rest on Feliciano's hips, rubbing circles over his hipbones.

Humming slightly at the pressure, Feliciano smiled a bit wider.

"Do you... do you like men?" he asked quietly, the thought having just come to mind. "Or... both men and women?"

…_Did_ he like men? The idea of a man being attractive had never really crossed his mind, but at times he realized he didn't necessarily like everything about women. Ludwig had only had a few past relationships, and they had been all women. However, they all were from his teenage years where hormones made him want to jump anything that moved. Now that he was older, and in his own fog of solitude, a person's personality spoke out to him more than anything. Maybe that was why he didn't question himself about Feliciano?

"I guess... I don't find people attractive just for their bodies, more for who they are. Does that make sense?" He twisted his head so he could watch Feliciano's face.

The concept at first seemed a little odd to him—not caring at all whether someone was a man or a woman in order to love them... but then he decided that he liked it. Even though he'd been raised rather religiously and was taught that men were supposed to like women and women were supposed to like men and that was the end of it, he'd never thought that was how it should have been. His first love had been a boy, after all.

"Yes, it does," he said, lazily shifting his head so that he could look at Ludwig's face more easily. "Some people say that... this kind of relationship is wrong, though..." His expression became slightly pained, as he was thinking of his friends and family back home who would likely shun him if they were to find out about his feelings towards Ludwig, another man.

Ludwig instantly felt guilty, like he had pushed Feliciano into something. It was true, though, especially in these times when his country was enslaving others for it. He knew for a fact he could get away with it here in the military; many of the men practiced homosexual sex, and the government encouraged it "under the table," so to speak. Ludwig felt no personal pang for it, it did not go against his morals, but the last thing he wanted was to force Feliciano to do something he didn't want and would later regret.

"W-we... can stop if you want, I'm sorry I..." he frowned slightly and began to move away from the sweet Italian regretfully.

"W-what?" Feliciano looked at him in alarm and frowned, moving to throw his arms around him and pull him back. "No, I don't want to stop—I want... _this_..." He stared into the German's icy blue eyes in silence for a second, caressing his face in one hand. "I want you inside me, Ludwig."

He widened his eyes and stared dumbfounded. Not only was this a change in mood, but just how Feliciano was asking for it made him forget those silly problems. Instead, Ludwig closed his eyes and pressed a kiss to the other's lips. Gathering himself, he moved one of the Italian's slender legs over his shoulder to make it easier to slide in, then positioned the head of his cock outside of Feliciano's hole, lightly rubbing against it.

"Are you ready?" already, he was shivering, just imagining how it would feel.

Just the slight pressure of Ludwig's erection was enough to get him at the beginnings of arousal again, and he raised his other leg to the German's shoulder, using them to cling to his neck. Wanting it more than ever, he let out a single word on his breath.

"Yes."


	4. Chapter 4

**And here is the sexy chapter. If you don't like reading gay sex, I don't know why you're reading this. And it's not as if you can really skip it because there's still plot in this. But I figured I should warn you anyway. **

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That one word was all he needed to finally push into the tight ring of muscles. Immediately, he wanted to relentlessly pound, but he held himself back and pushed slowly until all of him was firmly in Feliciano. Ludwig's legs shook with the effort but he held himself back.

Feliciano was already breathless with the feeling of being completely full—full of _Ludwig_. Once again, it was as though he was being engulfed by the other man's warmth, and nothing existed but the two of them. Just the thought of having that sinfully amazing German sergeant inside of him was so... He didn't have a word for it. Intimate? He and Ludwig were together in an extremely intimate way, after all... but it was something more. Something better.

Moaning slightly, he moved his hands down to Ludwig's hips and held them firmly, even pulling a little.

"Gott, Feliciano," he moaned, leaning his torso down to place his head next to Feliciano's shoulder. "Can... hah ...can I move?" he practically begged, letting his hot ragged breath fan over the smaller one's neck.

He only then realized that his grip was keeping Ludwig fully inside him, and when he did, he almost laughed.

"Oh... yes, sorry," he breathed, loosening his grip of the German's hips and turning his head quickly to give a chaste kiss to his cheek.

Ludwig smiled and began to rock into the tightness, going slow so as not to hurt him. Feliciano felt fantastic; he was so tight and hot and just velvet squeezing him. It sent shivers all through his body and he began to move faster, searching for that one spot. He wanted Feliciano screaming under him, clawing at his back and begging him in Italian for more, more!

Having Ludwig thrust into him over and over again was already enough to have him completely erect again and breathing in small gasps and moans, but it wasn't long before the other man hit _something_ inside him that make him jerk upward involuntarily and moan Ludwig's name so loudly that it echoed slightly in the small room.

_Dio mio...,_ he thought as clearly as he could in this state, _what_was _that...?_

Letting out a grunt, Ludwig smirked, glad to have finally found the smaller male's prostate. He loved how Feliciano groaned his name and thrust even harder into that spot, feeling the burn of ecstasy in his stomach.

Every muscle worked to push in deeper and to pull Feliciano closer to his sweating and heated body.

The slight pain that came along with the hard thrusts was nothing compared to the ultimate pleasure wrought by Ludwig hitting that spot _over and over_ again, sending what felt like electric shocks throughout every bit of him and making him see stars. He barely had enough breath in his lungs to keep screaming Ludwig's name, but he somehow managed it in between his constant gasps and moans.

Again, his hands moved to grab the German's hips and pull him in, wanting more of him.

He pounded deeper and deeper still, loving how the loud screams echoed off the walls. With a low moan, he lifted Feliciano and pulled him into his lap, placing one arm around his neck to encourage the Italian to hold there for support. This new angle allowed Ludwig to hit his prostate straight on every time.

Feliciano hadn't expected to have their positions shifted like that, but he didn't mind it once he realized that this allowed him more control and also to be closer to Ludwig. Without having to be urged by the other man, he wrapped both his arms tightly around his neck and kept both of his legs on either side of his lap. Feliciano moved along with Ludwig's upward thrusts and at the same time pulled his head in to kiss him passionately, all of his moans now going inside the German's mouth.

Ludwig eagerly swallowed the moans and slowed his thrusts. He let their hips roll together slowly, skin brushing skin and breaths mingling together. "Feliciano," he moaned, letting his tongue lap at sweat slicked skin. His head was dizzy with this thick blanket of sex and sweat of moans. He wanted to live there forever, His and Feliciano's moving together forever as one thing, but he knew it had to end.

The slow thrusts, their bare chests sliding together like that, the sweat, the moans, the hot breath... It was all he could have ever wanted, though he hadn't even known he'd wanted it until so recently. Feliciano let his lips gradually part from Ludwig's, moving to kiss up his jaw until his mouth was close to his ear.

"Ti amo, Ludwig," he whispered, just loud enough for the other man to hear.

He nearly came right then at those words. Urgently, he reached one hand down to grasp Feliciano and pump him. Ludwig took a shuddering breath and whispered hoarsely in the Italian's ear, "_Ich Liebe dich."_ _Gott,_if it wasn't true, he would make it so. This feeling of being connected to him in such a way made his heart race and blood boil and rise inside him at every pass of the other's hands.

"Lud—Lud... wig...," he groaned at once, clutching onto the German's back as though for dear life, so hard that his fingernails making indents in the skin as much as he tried not to. He felt his spine arch back against his will, but he wanted to—_needed_ to—keep his body closer to Ludwig's, and so his instincts took over. Screaming out his lover's name wasn't enough, though; Feliciano needed to bite down on the muscled shoulder in front of him to keep from bursting from all that pleasure.

And Ludwig practically snarled as he felt those teeth sink into him. His instincts went primal and took over and he relished in the tight heat and the pain in his shoulder. He pumped faster at Feliciano's cock and groaned as he fought back to hold his own release. Knowing it was inevitably happening soon, he sucked hard at the smaller man's neck, pulling away only to groan, "Feli... Feliciano, come with me," then returned to sucking and biting and just tasting that prime skin. He covered as much of the area as he could with small marks, wanting everyone to see his claim.

Biting down harder, Feliciano let out a moan that was almost two low to be his own as a sort of "Okay, _yes_, of course..." He wanted to extend his neck to give more room for Ludwig's _wonderful_ mouth to keep doing that to him, but there really wasn't much room for him to move his head at this point. But he continued to rock his hips against Ludwig's, pushing himself up and down on the hardness filling him faster and faster.

It couldn't have been any more than a minute before Feliciano felt himself hit the brink and explode into Ludwig's hand, at which his fingernails dug harder than ever into the other man's back, but his teeth detached from his shoulder so as to allow him to moan—practically scream—his lover's name.

The scream and the wetness on his hand were enough to send Ludwig into a small craze. He pistoned his hips even faster and faster, his breath was ragged, and he could feel that sweet release coiling tighter and tighter. The German's muscles began to burn with their work but he kept going, until, finally, the clenching tightness gripped him hard enough to force a strangled snarl of Feliciano's name and he came. Ludwig let his hips continue as he rode out the bliss, letting his bites become more gentle until he was barely rocking anymore, not minding the cum dripping onto both of their thighs.

As the rocking slowed to a stop, Feliciano's grip on his lover's back loosened, and his head shifted to rest on the shoulder that he'd been biting. It seemed that the whole world was slowing down now—his heartbeat, his breathing, his mind... Exhausted but still feeling the thrum of pleasure throughout his body, he hung onto Ludwig's neck and pressed his face into it, breathing heavily and trying to catch his breath.

Ludwig's hips then finally stopped moving, and he found himself content to stay nestled inside Feliciano, the both of them too tired to move. Gently, he lowered the both of them lay facing each other sideways and taking deep breaths, trying to calm his racing heart. Already Feliciano seemed relaxed, and he felt himself go calmer as he just stared into the serene face. The German felt like he could lie there forever, resting after lovemaking only to wake up and do it over again. He brought him closer and his rough hands travel up and down Feliciano's back.

"Mm..." was all Feliciano could say as Ludwig laid them down, as he could barely spare any breath that he was taking in deeply. But he raised a weak-feeling hand to the other man's face and laid it gently upon his cheek, just keeping it there. Closing his eyes, he shifted his head slightly so that their foreheads were touching, smiled sleepily, and gave him a soft kiss on the lips.

He hummed back and placed his own hand on Feliciano's cheek. This was all so new, and yet he felt like it was right. Almost like it was something as right as breathing, and he let a content smile cross his face, stroking the other's soft cheek with the pad of his thumb.

"How was it?" he asked through pants, trying to calm his heart down.

Amazing. Fantastic. Indescribable. Heart-stopping. The best he'd ever had or could ever hope for.

"Perfect," Feliciano decided to say, inhaling directly after in continued attempts to get his breathing back to normal. Smiling contentedly and staring into the blue eyes across from him, he let his hand slide gently down to his lover's neck, and somewhat down his back, where he felt... oh.

"Oh, Ludwig...," he said worriedly when he realized the marks he'd made on the German's back and shoulder, pushing himself up slightly to frown at them and see how deep into his shoulder his teeth had gone. "I'm sorry..."

But he just chuckled and let his hands slide up to Feliciano's face, turning it so they could lock eyes. "I love them." He smiled and pressed a gentle kiss to his lift as proof. He really did love the marks, and hoped the one bite would scar, giving him a constant reminder of this first of many love-making sessions, or so he hoped. The man let his eyes trail down to Feliciano's neck, noticing the marks he left. "I think we can call it even, anyway," he said, lightly running his fingers over a particularly large welt that sat just below the Italians collar bone.

Noticing all the marks on his own shoulder-area, Feliciano let out a small laugh and ran his hand over them and over the hand that Ludwig had on them, then joined their fingers together and leaned back down onto the bed.

"Yeah, I guess we can," he agreed in a sort of breathy laugh, nuzzling his head into Ludwig's neck.

They shared the short laugh and Ludwig settled down more, only to notice the cum cooling and drying on both of their bodies. He sat up and searched the room with his eyes, finally deciding just to use his discarded black shirt to wipe them down. Ludwig shrugged, he could always get another.

"I think I'll clean us up a bit," he said, gently wiping Feliciano off first, making sure to be very conscious of the sensitive skin around his anus. He had been a little too rough for Feliciano's first time and knew the skin would be tender.

Feliciano didn't say anything, but he rolled onto his back and let the other man wipe his thighs and stomach off, not minding the slight tenderness down there. He waited patiently as Ludwig did himself, just watching and smiling slightly.

When they were both lying down and nestled together again, a thought came to mind. "Ludwig... when this war is over, what do you want to do?"

"Leave," he said immediately. "I want to leave this country." Everything he had fought for before was being quickly forgotten by the people in charge. Their country was evil in the eyes of Europe and even America. Ludwig had known since the second year he was fighting for nothing, and just went robotically on with his duty.

In truth, he wanted nothing more to leave even during this war, to go somewhere like Switzerland where they could be safe…. Would they? He wondered if Feliciano would even like that idea, would even he even want to stay with him?

"Can I come with you?" asked Feliciano at once, his eyes widening slightly from their half-opened state and his breathing suddenly getting a lot slower. "I don't even care where you go, I just want to go with you."

"How does Switzerland sound?" he asked, slowly meeting the other's eyes. Ludwig was almost afraid he would wake up and this wouldn't be real. The thought of he and Feliciano living together in a small countryside town, or even the city if he wanted, thrilled him. All that mattered was that he could wake up to see him every morning, lying there quietly still asleep.

"It sounds fantastic," he said so breathlessly that he was nearly just mouthing it. Feliciano knew that Switzerland was probably the safest place to be, especially right now. He didn't even care that he'd be leaving behind the family he still had back in Italy—Ludwig was suddenly so much more important. Besides, he knew he would have to tell them that he was only visiting and not staying and why, and he was sure that they would not approve. Perhaps if Ludwig was a woman... but he wasn't.

"It would be nice... if we could just leave together now," Feliciano told him, curling one hand around Ludwig's side. "I never wanted to join the military in the first place... but if I hadn't, I never would have known you..."

Ludwig smiled at that fact traced very each of Feliciano's ribs thoughtfully. "I'd like that too, but I don't know how we could get there..." He thought hard, but nothing seemed to come up. They were at the Russian front, far from Switzerland, and though he had money, he couldn't figure how transportation would work.

Feliciano sighed softly, burying half of his face in the pillow and inching a little closer to Ludwig's body. "Or how we could avoid being caught... And that would be worse than staying in here." He shuddered slightly at the thought of being imprisoned or sent off to a different, worse front for treason—especially if he and Ludwig were separated. "But... I'll wait with you until we can get out of here."

Before he could feel the same shudder at the idea of being separated, though, Ludwig had an idea. "Gilbert!" He sat up quickly and sprang from the bed, running over to his desk to rummage through it. Why hadn't he thought of this before? "He runs a train for livestock, it travels completely around the border."

The words rushed out as he continued searching for the number of the train station. His brother, Gilbert, had become an engineer, then on to the header of his own train. He also knew his brother got much extra money from smuggling; Ludwig was sure this would work. Gilbert would be more proud than anything that he was giving up his loyalty to run off with a man.

Slightly alarmed, Feliciano sat up in the bed and watched Ludwig frantically search his desk. He was still confused for several seconds after the other man explained, but then he realized—

"So... your brother could get us out of here?" he asked slowly, dawning realization and excitement rising in his voice. "This can actually happen?"

"Yes," he breathed, finally finding the number and standing. Ludwig walked quickly to the heavy iron telephone that sat atop the desk and dialed the number. He grinned at Feliciano as the ringing tone droned. Finally, it was picked up by a Russian woman, and he spoke to her briefly in her native tongue (he had been required to learn it), and soon Gilbert was put on. He talked slowly but with obvious excitement into the phone, not bothering to talk in English. Just as he expected, the idea sounded brilliant to Gilbert, who kept saying he wanted to meet the "fine piece of ass that reeled him in."

Ludwig's heart drummed as Gilbert took his time looking through schedule and shipping data in his folders, searching for a time a spot for them to board. He was really doing this!

As he watched Ludwig speak on the phone, Feliciano's smile grew wider and wider—this was all simply too unreal. It seemed as though one minute he'd been faking injury to retreat to the trenches, and the next he was planning his escape from the military camp with Ludwig—and it seemed even odder with that, as he'd always had to refer to him as "Sergeant Beilschmidt" before. He felt like his heart was already floating away to safety and taking him with it—nothing could go wrong, right now.

And aside from that, he couldn't help but admire how well Ludwig could speak different languages. Feliciano didn't even know much German himself—only English and Italian and a little bit of Spanish... He briefly wondered if Ludwig was fluent in Italian….

Then, with one last word, Ludwig promised his brother he owed him a life debt and even called him the American word "awesome" he so often used to describe himself as. With a rush of excitement he picked up Feliciano and kissed him, letting their naked bodies press together as he held the Italian off the ground.

"_Gott,_ Feliciano, we can leave today," he whispered with exasperation, burying his face in the others neck.

_Today?_ The word echoed in his head a few times before he could fully comprehend what was happening. And when he did, he immediately flung his arms around Ludwig's neck and laughed in pure happiness and relief before turning his head and pressing several sloppy kisses to the other man's cheek in his excitement.

"Oh _God_, Ludwig, this is amazing!" he said in an excited whisper, almost starting to cry with how happy he was. "I can't believe it... I just..." In his excitement, he got a little carried away and went off rambling in Italian without realizing it, continuing to press more kisses to Ludwig's face.

"_Lo so_, _lo so_," he chanted back in Italian. They were going to be free and live far away from all this. However, there were still things they needed to do first. "Do you have anything you need to get from camp?" he asked, still holding him tightly. "We need to take as much as we can without it being too noticeable. I can get us to the nation under leave of discharging you, but we can't make it seem like we have anything planned," he said quickly. Time was of the essence, and they had only a few hours to carry this out.

He pulled back his head for a few seconds to think, and a few things stuck out in his head immediately.

"Um... I have a family ring and my brother's jacket and some pictures that I want to keep." Even if he was fine with the prospect of not seeing his family again for a while, if he ever even did, he didn't want to forget them completely. "Oh—and I have some money saved back there, too... But...," he started to say, looking up into Ludwig's eyes with slight worry, "won't they question you as to why I'm being discharged?"

Ludwig laughed, letting it fill the room for a moment before stealing another kiss. "No, they won't, just follow my lead," he murmured, then pulled away to gather their clothes. He slipped his jacket on without a shirt and helped Feliciano with his clothes, once they were fully dressed, he began to gather a few things and place them in a leather satchel he kept under his desk. In it was his own money and extra clothes, along with a small handgun, ammunition, and his knife. He doubted they would need them, but Ludwig was a careful man.

When it seemed that they were completely ready, Feliciano paused, realizing—"Wait, Ludwig..." With about as serious of an expression his face could make, he hurried to the other man's side and reached up to smooth down his hair, which was sticking out in all directions and rather uncharacteristically messy for any sergeant, not just him. "Heh, it looks pretty obvious that we both just had sex..."

He blushed slightly and straightened his suit a little. Taking a moment to study Feliciano—he did indeed look like he had just had some rough sex. The auburn locks fell around his eyes in untamed patterns and his cheeks were still flushed. Either that or he had just gotten beat up. _Wait,_he thought, _could that work?_ He had gotten them in the building under premise of Feliciano being in trouble, so it should be easy to convince the lieutenant that he had a "disagreement," making the discharge make more sense.

"How good can you pretend you just got beat up?" Ludwig asked, though he would never even dream of hurting his little Italian in real life.

"Huh?" His somewhat serious smile immediately faded into a confused look, his eyebrows knitted together and his lips pursed curiously. "Why would I—_Oh_, is that how we're going to trick them?" His smile came back halfway, as that was a rather good idea. Ludwig was so smart... "Because I've been beat up a lot of times before, so I think I could be pretty convincing!"

He didn't fully understand what his acting would be implying, but he knew it would help them get out of there, and he would do anything to get out of there. He wasn't too sure how he was going to be able to act upset and in pain when he was the happiest he'd ever been in his life, though.

"Alright." He smiled and rubbed the other's cheek. The idea of someone beating him bothered Ludwig, but he could dwell on that later. "I'm going to act a little...scary, but it's all for show to get us out of here. Just play along and it will be over soon. When we get to the tent, just go get your things and hurry." With that, he reached down to press his lips to Feliciano's one last time before they had to execute this plan.

Understanding him, Feliciano nodded, slightly breathless again—though he didn't know whether it was because he was nervous about the plan or because of Ludwig's light kiss. But then he forced himself to get serious and struggled to keep his smile down as he waited for Ludwig to lead him out the door.

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**I'd say this is where it's started to get good, so reviews are very welcome!. ^_^**


	5. Chapter 5

**I just have one warning: there will be a bit of RusPrus in this chapter and the next couple. I probably should have mentioned that at the beginning, but whatevs. I don't even really ship it; that's just how the RP went. (Although I do ship it a little now that I've had it in an RP...)**

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Ludwig took a deep breath, giving Feliciano's hand a quick squeeze before sliding his hand to grip his forearm. With a soft click, the door opened, and he began to roar out orders, the loud German calls bouncing painfully around in the small space. His heart pounded in his ears, but he twisted his face in anger. Immediately all the people under him began to file out to take orders. He forced himself to go red faced in rage and began to yell for things like discharge papers and for a jeep to be readied for him. He dragged Feliciano along, keeping his grip as light as he could while jerking him a little for effect. He couldn't see how well he was doing, but the horrified faces he paced past told him enough.

The grip on Feliciano's arm wasn't tight enough to hurt at all, but it seemed as though Ludwig had become a completely different person once the door had been opened. He knew it was acting, but... it seemed almost _too_ good acting. Feliciano had definitely heard the man yell like that before, and it was one of the reasons he had been largely intimidated by him, but this was pretty scary, being so near him when he was yelling like that.

And here he'd thought it would be difficult to keep himself from looking at all cheerful... He'd definitely been wrong. It was too easy to stumble weakly after Ludwig with a near-horrified expression and looking as though he was about to cry—because he was legitimately a little frightened, however much he kept telling himself that it was all for show, all for show...

That, and the fact that his bottom was starting to ache and make it a little difficult for him to walk properly. Ludwig could feel him stumbling, but they had to do this quickly. So he decided he could make it up to him later and sped on. Finally, they reached the door leading out, and Ludwig almost smiled amusingly at how the guard jumped out of his haze at the harsh tones he was receiving to prepare the vehicle.

Suddenly, the lieutenant stopped him, grabbing hold of his arm. "What are you doing, Beilschmidt?" the man asked sternly, choosing to speak in German so Feliciano wouldn't understand. The lieutenant was a shorter, fatter and sleazier man. He took as much advantage of his slightly higher ranking as he could, and as much as he would enjoy yelling at him, Ludwig needed to move this along. With an irritated expression, he shoved Feliciano as gently as he could in the direction of the tents, hissing, "Collect your belongings, _Made._"

He watched Feliciano stumble slightly in the dirt, and his heart ached, but this was necessary. "I'm discharging the rat—he has no stamina and has given me trouble for the last time," he growled as soon as Feliciano was out of ear shot. His words, in any language, sounded cruel enough without having to understand.

For a moment, the lieutenant looked like he might have given him trouble, but Ludwig held his ground and stood straighter, easily taller than the man. "Very well," he coughed, mumbling a few other unimportant things about his jobs when he got back. Finally he walked off, the dull tent area quiet as they watched the scene. Ludwig huffed and retained his irritation, going off to retrieve Feliciano.

Meanwhile, on his way to the tents—_It's just acting, it's just acting, it's not real,_ Feliciano kept saying over and over in his head, though the fear on his face wasn't near as much acting as Ludwig must have been. He just couldn't help it; he was scared easily and Ludwig was big and already intimidating on his own, however much he'd learned the opposite less than an hour ago, and he was _convincing_. Especially with how he'd given that order with such disgust in his voice... Once again, _It's all for show, he doesn't hate me, he's even been trying_not_to hurt me...,_ he reminded himself as he scrambled over to his tent with widened eyes and hurriedly packing away the things he needed the most.

With haste, Feliciano swiped the still-drying jacket (it had been washed the day before) that used to belong to his older brother, Lovino, from a line of rope and stuffed it into his bag, and then quickly found the small box of important pictures and the pouch where he kept his money in and stuffed them in as well. He had very few clothes that weren't part of his uniform, and they were all already in the bag. Another second passed, and it was clasped shut and ready to go. Luckily, the panic he had had to get everything he needed as quickly as possible had worn away the real fear for Ludwig's fake anger, and so he felt somewhat more level-headed as he stood up and started walking back out of the tent.

They met at the opening of the tent, and Ludwig jerked his head to the side, indicating he should follow. He walked stiffly as they rounded a corner to a black jeep sitting for them. He retrieved the discharge papers from a footman and got in the driver's side, waiting for Feliciano to get in and place his things in the floorboard next to his own bag. He then drove at a normal speed until they reached the gate. Surprisingly, the guard gave him a quick nod and let him leave without asking for the papers.

It seemed unsuspecting enough, so he returned the nod and passed through. Still, Ludwig drove normally for about a mile. _Good enough,_he thought, and pulled over, stopping the jeep behind a cluster of bushes that could hide them from the road. Cranking off the engine, he turned to look at Feliciano, no other sound but the birds and cicadas disturbing them as evening began to fall.

Feliciano immediately let out a breath that he felt like he'd been holding for the entire ride and looked abruptly to Ludwig, a questioning look on his face.

"Why... did we stop?" Not that he wasn't glad for it. He'd been timid ever since he'd gotten in the jeep, afraid to talk at all. And for a person as talkative as him, that was a bit hard. But he found it odd that Ludwig would stop when they still had a time limit for the rest of the plan.

Ludwig didn't answer at once but quickly wrapped his arms around Feliciano, kissing all over his face and apologizing over and over again. He knew he was scary, but the Italian must have been petrified. He had been too quiet in the car, and Ludwig couldn't stand the guilt.

"I didn't mean it," he said quietly, "I love you, _Gott,_do I love you…." He held him tighter and continued kissing. This was only the beginning of how he was going to make it up to him, and for now it was all they could do. Ludwig was taking a great risk doing this, just pulling over and stopping, but Feliciano was more important.

…_Fear? What the hell was fear?_ Feliciano felt all the timidity drain away to be replaced by relief with Ludwig's kisses, and his entire body became completely relaxed very quickly in the German's arms. After the first few moments of surprise, he hugged him back and returned the quick kisses, saying in the same tone, "It's okay, you did it because you had to, and I love you too, Ludwig..."

At this point, it was actually becoming somewhat easier to believe that this was real and that they were actually escaping... Even the kisses and touches felt more real, as though Feliciano had always known in his heart that this would happen someday. He didn't know how he could have possibly known that, though...

"Thank you," he sighed in relief and pulled back, stroking Feliciano's hair before pulling back completely and starting the car back up. As it rumbled to life, he felt his excitement return to him, almost feeling like a teenager again as he gave a side glance to his lover.

Yes, Feliciano was his lover now, and that made him smile all the more as he drove back onto the road. Ludwig was going much faster now, knowing they needed to get to the station soon so Gilbert could show them the car they would be hiding in—he'd said something about it not being the best, but it would have to do.

He slowed the car as they entered the war-beaten town, getting wary looks all the while. Ludwig was just glad it was just discrimination and not because of what they were doing. Eventually, he maneuvered the vehicle through strings of cattle and people to the station. Streams of smoke came from it, and people bustled around, forming a large crowd. Feeling calmer now, he parked the jeep, knowing he wouldn't see it again, and held the door open for Feliciano. He grabbed both their bags while he got out.

Feliciano sort of felt like a woman, having the door held open for him—and he figured a lot of other people must have thought he was one, too, by the way they gave him surprised looks when he got out. He didn't mind so much, though. He was, however, disappointed that he wouldn't be able to hold Ludwig's hand or look at him the way he wanted to for the time being, as he was sure that would draw attention that they didn't need. Trying to act as casual as possible and keep his excitement on the inside, he brushed his uniform off and waited for Ludwig to tell him what to do.

"Alright, we need to get to Terminal 6...," Ludwig said, trailing off as he looked at the crowd. If there was one thing Ludwig didn't like, it was crowds. They involved pushing and shoving and him feeling rude at having to cut in front of people to get by. They were unorganized. "How are we going to get through this?" he wondered aloud, eyes travelling over the swarm of bodies and color.

Feliciano found it strange and almost funny that Ludwig, the intimidating and large man he was (not to mention a sergeant and currently wearing his uniform, even), would have trouble being assertive and just walking right through. Perhaps he simply felt too socially awkward when things weren't professional or military related... Whatever it was, Feliciano was getting a little impatient and anxious, so he looked around to read the signs and see which way Terminal 6 was, and then he grabbed Ludwig's arm right below his elbow and tugged, saying, "Like this—come on."

With his thin body and slender build, it was easy for Feliciano to fit through relatively small gaps in between people and thus get through the crowd. And when the people around him saw Ludwig coming their way (which was easy, since the majority of them were shorter than him), they would quickly move out of the way. It was really very easy, and they were at the terminal within a few minutes—before which, Ludwig was too surprised to say anything.

He didn't want to admit that the little Italian had been more efficient than him, but there was no getting around it. So he sighed, gave an awkward smile, and said, "Uh, thanks," he turned to look for his brother as an excuse to hide his pink cheeks.

Finally, Ludwig spotted the head of silver not too far away, and before he could get out "Bruder!" he was knocked to the ground with Gilbert on top of him.

There was nothing Feliciano could do but step back in alarm as Ludwig was pretty much _tackled _and gave a loud "Oof!" upon hitting the ground. He then cringed slightly, thinking that that must have hurt, and briefly glanced around at the surrounding people, who were now staring at them. So much for staying inconspicuous.

"Is this... your brother?" he asked hesitantly, not having expected someone giving off such an air of insanity. The silver-haired man didn't even look that much like Ludwig.

"Unfortunately," Ludwig grumbled, shoving a protesting Gilbert of him so he could stand.

"Ah, but West," he whined, insisting on his stupid nickname. Gilbert straightened himself and puffed out his cheeks childishly, partly for not getting a warmer welcome and partly because he was forced to look up to him.

Gilbert was about to make a snarky comment when he spotted the confused-looking Italian, his red orbs shining. "Well, who do we have here?" he purred, taking Feliciano's hand and kissing it like a gentleman.

Feliciano's eyes widened in shock when he saw Gilbert's eyes—_red? Is that a natural color...?_ And he was too bewildered to react to Ludwig's brother kissing his hand except by just standing there and staring with his mouth hanging open. "Uh..."

And then Ludwig, feeling a pang of jealousy and irritation, moved forward and pulled Feliciano's hand away from his brother's lips. "_This_ is Feliciano," he said proudly, wrapping a predatory arm around the Italian's shoulder's and wiping the hand off on his uniform. Normally, Ludwig wouldn't do such an "embarrassing" thing in public, but Feliciano was _his. _

Gilbert sighed dramatically and beckoned for the two to follow him, heading off towards a large black train engine. Ludwig took up their bags and lead Feliciano, leaving his arm around him.

Once again, Feliciano noticed that they were getting some stares. But now, he wasn't sure if it was still because of Gilbert or because Ludwig had his arm around his shoulders. He decided to ignore them, though, as he knew they weren't going to matter in the next few minutes. Keeping his face straight ahead, he followed Ludwig and his brother and tried to act as much like a soldier as possible.

But Ludwig noticed the people staring as well and had just started to feel awkward again. His nervousness faded and was replaced with worry, and he gave Feliciano's slim shoulder a light squeeze. He knew he still had to be careful for the aspect of being caught, but for all his brother's idiocy, Gilbert was actually quite smart and tactical.

The slight squeeze of his shoulder was reassuring, but Feliciano felt suddenly quite nervous again when he noticed another man not too far from them who also seemed to be in a military uniform. He had a similar hair color to Gilbert and actually looked taller than Ludwig, and he was talking to two women—one who had long hair and was wearing a blue dress, and another who could really only be visually defined by her exceptionally large breasts. He thought, for a second, that the man might notice and recognize them, but as they got closer it became apparent that the uniform was different and therefore the man wasn't a German soldier.

But that meant he was a Russian soldier, and Feliciano couldn't say that was much better. Starting to get scared that something might go wrong, he immediately snapped his eyes back to the space directly in front of him and tried not to look.

Ludwig followed the gaze and caught sight of the man. He instantly felt his heart speed up and was about to tell Gilbert they needed to hurry, when his brother began to yell "Ivaaaaaaaaaan!" across the terminal. His eyes widened with horror as he watched the Russian soldier turn and wave farewell to two women with him, though he was too panicky to notice anything about them.

"You idiot, Feliciano and I could get caught!" he hissed, grabbing his brother's arm and pushing Feliciano behind as the huge man approached. Everything seemed to be falling apart and the German was at a loss at what to do.

_What?_ Ludwig's brother _knew_ that man? Feliciano was suddenly very, very scared, and all his dreams of escaping with Ludwig were crumbling before his eyes, and even _Ludwig_ seemed unsure what to do and he was just panicking so much...

Ivan approached his albino friend with a smile, and he briefly raised his eyebrows in acknowledgement when he stopped in front of him. "_Privyet_, Gilbert!" he said cheerfully, holding out his hand and grasping the other man's firmly. Feliciano only allowed himself to view him with a side-glance, and he was surprised to see the Russian being so friendly, despite the fact that he still seemed so scary. And the man then leaned a little closer to Gilbert and started speaking in Russian, so he couldn't understand what was being said. He hoped to God it wasn't anything bad.

"Thank you so much for calling me over," Ivan was muttering in his mother tongue, slight nervousness in his voice. "Natalya was beginning to scare me a lot... You know, they should just put her on the Russian front. She would slaughter the entire German army if she thought I was on the other side of them…. But... who are these people with you?"

He spoke in English for that last sentence, as he'd noticed that the other two men were both wearing German military outfits. That didn't automatically put him off, as his preference for Gilbert already showed he didn't have a personal problem with Germans. Well, not if they weren't on the battlefield, anyway. He kept on smiling even when looking at them, not aware that that sort of smile looked very out of place on him or that the two other men looked rather nervous.

The knowledge that he received from the Russian's hushed tone told Ludwig that he and Gilbert were acquainted, but that didn't necessarily mean he and Feliciano were in the clear. He stayed silent for the moment being, not that he had much of a choice—

"Oh! That's Ludwig, you know, my awkward baby brother, and his hot little Italian lover," Gilbert introduced, winking at Feliciano. Ludwig frowned and gave his brother a glare before straightening his shoulders.

"And you are?" he asked. He didn't know this man, and that odd smile was putting on a dim atmosphere that sent a shill up his spine. Even if this "Ivan" was a bit taller than him, he knew that he needn't worry. Height did not decide fighting ability. He held a wary challenge in his eyes and moved in front of Feliciano even more, ready to defend him.

_Awkward baby brother indeed...,_ thought Ivan, a slight smirk making its way into his friendly smile. Ludwig was at least two inches taller than Gilbert, and definitely more muscular. Muscles didn't equal intimidation, though, so he wasn't put off by the man's stance. However, he could immediately tell that the man was trying to hide the other one behind him. How rude.

"I am Ivan Braginski," he said simply, quirking his smile a little more and extending a hand, leaning forward slightly over the German soldier. "I would say it's likely that we've met on the battlefield once or twice—you look like you would be on the front lines..." His smile at that turned into a polite one, extremely unfitting and off-putting for the situation.

Ivan then shifted his neck a bit, trying to see around Ludwig to the "hot little Italian lover" Gilbert had mentioned, but he couldn't see much, even with his height. But he pursed his lips curiously before smiling again and continuing, "You must be a good man to have as a lover, Ludwig, because you seem very protective. I know I can't say quite the same for myself, heh..." And he put a firm hand on Gilbert's shoulder, a smirk in his eyes but not quite on his lips, where the smile was innocent.

Meanwhile, Feliciano was trying not to cower like he wanted to, but he still stayed behind Ludwig and avoided looking at the Russian. He was hardly paying attention to anything that was being said, though, as he was too focused on trying not to completely and utterly freak out.

The German was not led astray by the flattery, until Ivan began to talk about him and Feliciano and their relationship. His cheeks heated a bit and he felt embarrassed, even more so when the giant gave his brother's shoulder a squeeze. He knew Gilbert was an experimenter, but Ludwig did his best to avoid ever meeting them. This one in particular would have been nice to avoid, but it was too late now.

Sighing, he took the extended hand and shook firmly, slightly moving away from Feliciano to give his brother a look. Gilbert, as shameless as he was, just laughed and mouthed, "He's really rough," and Ludwig immediately regretted his decision to look at him. _Get's him every time,_the albino thought, not even trying to hide the fact he was hungrily eyeing the Russian's back.

When Ludwig moved, it made Feliciano more visible to the Russian, and he could feel it without even looking. Hesitantly, he glanced over, and he immediately regretted it because Ivan was smiling at him and looking at him almost as though he wanted to eat him. And honestly, he wouldn't be surprised if that were true. Practically shaking, he shifted his feet to move behind Ludwig again.

_He looks nice,_ Ivan thought in regards to the small Italian. _Probably fun to play with, too. If Ludwig's anything like his brother, he must get a thrill out of him..._ Looking back at Gilbert, Ivan noticed the hungry look in his eyes and smirked, returning it for a moment.

"Don't look at me like that if you're on duty, Gilbert," he said, his eyes glinting. "Unless you want to get the both of us arrested for public indecency." He held the gaze only a second longer, but it only took a second before he heard a very feminine-sounding yell of "_Ivan!_" And then his head snapped over to the street outside the train station to see his step-sister walking towards him and likely not very happy.

"_O_ _Nozhe moi_, she came _back_?" Ivan swore, a bit of fear in his voice as his arms jerked outward and he tried to look for a good escape. Damn, seven years in the military and he still couldn't find any escape from Natalya... He'd just have to go back to her. She knew about Gilbert, and she didn't like him, so he didn't like to think of what she might do. "_Izvinite,_" he apologized quickly to Gilbert, not daring to bend down and give him a quick kiss before departing their group and reluctantly running over to Natalya.

Gilbert snickered and watched the retreating man—he wouldn't mind that whole public display thing at all. He laughed a little at the fact that Ivan was still scared of his little sister, even if she was a bit of a freak. Ludwig sighed and took a moment to relax his body. He didn't like it at all how Ivan looked at Feliciano like he was some piece of meat. Turning, he pulled the cowering boy a little closer and gave him a quick kiss while Gilbert was distracted.

"Who is Natalya?" he wondered aloud, catching his brother's attention again.

"See that chick with the long hair? That's her, she's Ivan's little sister," he pointed out, yawning and stretching out his arms over his head. Ludwig raised a brow and studied the girl—she had a foul look on her face when she glanced in their group's direction. She was also much shorter than Ivan, yet judging from the Russian's body language, he might as well have been facing a large beast ready to eat him.

Gilbert snorted at the look and made his own face, though he turned out to look more like an idiot in the process. "She is a freak, I think she's the spawn of the devil." He looked completely serious about this part, but Ludwig ignored him.

"She doesn't like you, does she?" he asked instead.

"She doesn't like _anyone_who even _looks_ at Ivan." He looped a finger around the side of his head in a gesture to say she was crazy. "Anyhow, you wanna get on the train now, right? I'll show you," Gilbert chirped and gestured for them to follow. Ludwig complied willingly, not wanting to be around Gilbert's strange friends but instead wanting to finally settle in.

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**In case you're wondering, I RPed Ivan as well as Feliciano, and MudkipxSebby did Gilbert and Ludwig. Just so you know which parts are mine.**


	6. Chapter 6

**This one is a little longer than the others. Which means that there will either be one more chapter that's even longer, or two more shorter chapters. **

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Feliciano couldn't get over how odd it was that that huge Russian soldier could be afraid of anything, much less his little sister, but his mind started to change a little when he glanced over and saw Natalya, who was very pretty but somehow looked just as scary as him. The curious feeling faded, though, when Gilbert began to lead them to where they would be hiding and it was apparent that they were in the clear; they were safe. Nothing could have ever amounted to that kind of relief.

"Oh my God...," he gasped as they started walking again, not realizing that he must have been holding his breath that whole time. "That was... close."

"Yeah," Ludwig agreed, letting his arm fall from Feliciano's shoulder. He wasn't used to being affectionate but he knew one could be _too _affectionate, and he didn't want to fall into that category and annoy Feliciano.

Gilbert led them onto the train and steeped inside a room to talk to a gruff looking man who was probably in charge of the passengers by his uniform. Ludwig took the time to study the interior of the engine. Even though it wasn't meant for passengers, it was still finely furnished into almost a kind of lounging area. It seemed typical of his brother to slack off even during something like manning tons of moving steal.

Noticing this as well, Feliciano stepped inside and immediately gave an ironic smile, looking in between Ludwig and the room, and he muttered cheerfully to himself, "Heh, it actually looks kind of comfy in here..."

He then just watched Gilbert talk to the man, all the while not really trying to keep himself from rocking back and forth impatiently on the balls of his feet. Feliciano just really wanted to be alone with Ludwig and allowed to relax and just know that everything would be good for them there on out.

After about ten minutes Gilbert returned, laughing under his breath. "So here's the deal, captain's got a room for you, but you'll have to share it." Ruby eyes shone with mischief and Ludwig feared the worst.

"Not with—" he paused to make sure the Russian wasn't around, "not with Ivan, are we?" Not only was Ludwig a little disappointed he couldn't be alone with Feliciano, but the idea of having to co-exist with the other man didn't sit well. Gilbert laughed at the concern on his brother's face and smacked him on the back.

"Jeeze, West! Don't get so worried; he'll be staying with me," he smirked. "Your roommates will be much more agreeable; they don't talk much," Gilbert broke into a laugh again and, again, beckoned them to follow him through the door to the outside, leading them down the side of the train.

Ludwig grumbled, as he was already in a foul mood from being around his brother and finally wanted to relax. At any moment someone could see him and Feliciano, and he desperately wanted to just get away.

And there went Feliciano's hopes for being alone with Ludwig. His face clearly showing an expression of disappointment, he briefly grasped Ludwig's hand (at which a blush worked its way on to the other man's face), as he figured it might be the last chance he had to show any affection before they got to their room, and followed along. He nearly had a panic attack when Ivan was mentioned, but was quickly relieved. Although, he wasn't so sure if he could trust Gilbert's judgment as to who was "agreeable"... And he noticed that the silver-haired man had said "room_mates_." As in plural. So at least two other people would be with him and Ludwig...

He knew he should have been grateful just for this train ride—which he was, but he couldn't help but groan internally at the thought of sharing the room.

Eventually, Gilbert stopped them at large car; its outside was a rusty red color and there were places where the pain was beginning to chip. Instead of an entrance on the side, as passenger cars had, the entrance was a large sliding door. Ludwig felt a little confused, until he remembered their need to be unnoticed. So a cargo-cart was a good idea.

"Here it is!" Gilbert grunted, sliding opened the door with a loud sliding creak. The distinct scent of hay and dirt was released and Ludwig walked up to the entrance to look inside. He widened his eyes at the two large animals that were tethered inside.

_...Cows?_ Cows. There were cows in there. As soon as he understood (which was after several seconds of confusion, as he could be quite slow), Feliciano let out a laugh that was almost too loud, then burst into giggles. The only way he could find to muffle them was to cover his face in one hand and lean into Ludwig's arm.

Gilbert's sense of humor was a bit cruel, he figured, but he was suddenly very glad that the man hadn't meant people. Really, he didn't mind staying in a hay-filled room if it meant he and Ludwig would be, for the most part, alone on their way to Switzerland.

Ludwig, however, groaned and felt like smashing his head on the outside of the metal car. His brother's sense of humor wasn't amusing him, but at least Feliciano didn't seem to hate it. If anything, he wanted his lover to be comfortable, and if he didn't mind riding with livestock for a week, the Ludwig wouldn't either.

"Um, thank you... Bruder," he muttered awkwardly, focusing his eyes on the giggling Italian.

"It's no problem, 'cause I'm awesome!" Gilbert replied. "Now, get in there and get comfortable while I bring you guys food and stuff." With that, he walked off, leaving the pair alone.

Ludwig nodded and stepped easily up into the high car, then held his hand out for Feliciano. "Ready?" he asked, smiling softly. That feeling of excitement was returning to him and he couldn't help feel like on of those explorers in adventure books that do exciting and dangerous things for fun.

Beaming up at him, Feliciano grabbed his hand and nodded. "Ready," he breathed, pulling himself up.

Once he was in the livestock car, he kept holding onto the German's hand and looked around a little. One of the cows stared back at him dolefully with its huge, brown eyes, and he noticed that there was a good enough amount of hay that they would be relatively comfortably situated... besides the itchiness, of course. Smiling, he looked back to Ludwig and said thoughtfully, "I used to spend a lot of time on my brother's friend's ranch, you know... So this isn't all that bad."

"I suppose not," he sighed and laced their fingers together. It really wasn't—they could have always been put with chickens or pigs, which were loud and stunk to high heaven. With another sigh, Ludwig lowered himself onto a small pile of the hay and beckoned Feliciano to join him. It hadn't been long since they'd made love, and his body still acutely remembered every detail. He wanted to be close to the other, to hold their bodies securely together and to share a freedom high. The lovers were already so close to being safe.

And he definitely didn't need to be urged twice. Feliciano immediately followed Ludwig and practically let himself fall to the floor of the train—and the pile of hay was efficient enough as a cushion that it didn't matter. Smiling contentedly and taking a breath, he leaned into the other man, then slowly lifted their joined hands to press his lips to Ludwig's. This was too good to be true. They were finally going to leave together... And their first kiss in the trench already seemed so long ago, as though they had been lovers forever and only recently planned this escape. But really, he did feel like he'd known Ludwig forever...

Then, with a completely irrelevant but nevertheless important thought, he stopped musing and turned to look at the German, saying innocently, "When do you suppose Gilbert will be back with food? I just realized that I'm _really_ starving..."

Ludwig surprised himself with a strong laugh—he couldn't help but remember how many times the little Italian would whine about food no matter what was going on. He remembered a time that Feliciano had stopped his laps to ask when they were going to eat. The German had yelled, veins popping from his thick neck, and sent the soldier to do even more laps for his carelessness. Here, however, he wasn't a sergeant or even a member of the military; he could relax and be more permissive. Ludwig could really let himself go.

"Alright," he smiled, but just as soon as he made move to stand, Gilbert appeared as if on cue with a clock sack over his shoulder.

"Got your stu—oh my, excuse me, I didn't mean to interrupt," he said, waggling his pale brows suggestively. "Ivan's got the food, too," Gilbert turned and looked off, tossing the sack into the car as he let his eyes roam for the Russian. Ludwig took the sack while they waited. Gilbert had been smart and gotten him and Feliciano a change of clothes—their military clothes were a little obvious.

Feliciano's smile had remained until he heard Ivan's name, at which he frowned and scooted back a little, as though to keep himself at as far a distance from that Russian as possible. It baffled him that that man would be doing something as nice and normal as bringing food... He completely ignored what Gilbert had said as he clung to Ludwig and waited.

A few minutes later, Ivan left the train car from where he'd been taking the food with two bags slung over his shoulders, one a lot heavier than the other—though it was still rather easy for him to carry them, with his strength. Gilbert had told him that it was important all this be done quickly, so he walked at the fastest pace the weight on his back would allow down the side of the train until he saw his friend. Lover. Whichever.

"You're okay with this, _da_?" Ivan said, his tone making it sound more like a statement than a question. "I could only get enough for about three days. Although... if they were dying of hunger, I'm sure they could make this last..."

With that thought, he gave a twisted sort of smile and set the bags down inside the train car, then unhooked the jug of water hanging from his pants and set that down as well. He couldn't see Ludwig or the Italian (whose name he had yet to learn, for which he was slightly disappointed) until he turned around. And he smiled friendily again, honestly hoping they would appreciate this. Perhaps then, they would like him and want to be his friend, and they would have more of an incentive to stay in contact with them, so it wouldn't just be him and Gilbert forever...

Gilbert nodded. "Yeah yeah, they'll be fine—we have a lot of stops on the way so they can restock." He let a small smile slip and gave a grateful look to the Russian. Their "relationship" was a little rocky, as Gilbert enjoyed being free and sometimes an outright idiot, while Ivan was possessive. There were times where Gilbert found it a big turn, but others when it could be a little suffocating. He knew he felt more than just physical attraction for the man, but his wild personality made it hard to commit. Despite all of it, Ivan still did all he could to help him out. Underneath his creepy exterior, he could be surprisingly sweet, and Gilbert felt a little embarrassed to admit he liked being pampered, it went against his "manly" attitude.

"Thank you," Ludwig interrupted his brother's thoughts. Reluctantly, the German stood, leaving his place with Feliciano, and addressed Ivan. "Thank you, as well. We both very much appreciate your help," he said. It felt a little awkward, but Ludwig felt too guilty about judging the Russian, no matter how creepy he was, than to not give him an apology.

Ivan was surprised to have Gilbert's brother thank him, and it was easily seen on his face, as he couldn't help his eyebrows from rising. But he was nevertheless glad—in fact happier than he probably should have been—for the gratefulness. So he smiled wider, a little more genuine now, and gave a small nod.

"It's the thing to do, _da_? Gilbert told me about your situation, so why would I not help a friend's brother?" he said cheerfully, placing a hand on Gilbert's shoulder again. "And if anyone at my base knew I had a German lover, I'm sure I would be interrogated, so I'm used to taking risks."

Meanwhile, Feliciano had been reluctant and a bit scared to have Ludwig stand up and move a little away from him, but his mind slowly changed as he heard Ivan speak. It sounded like the Russian really wasn't that scary at all... or at least he didn't mean to be. _And_ he was in a somewhat similar situation to him and Ludwig... He wondered if Ivan ever really wanted to run off with Gilbert. And then he decided, against his better judgment, to stand up as well and go stand next to Ludwig—though a little bit behind him, as he was still a little bit scared.

"Um... I—I want to thank you, too," he said a little nervously, looking at the Russian but not quite meeting his eyes. "And—I'm Feliciano. I should have introduced myself before, I'm sorry." He did think that he might have been a little rude, and as a generally friendly person, he wanted to make up for it. So he held out a hand, which Ivan briefly stared at before taking it and shaking it a little too roughly—which wasn't really his fault; he didn't know his own strength sometimes. Besides, he was distracted by how glad he was.

Gilbert felt overwhelming happy that his brother was a little more or less accepting of Ivan, like he had wanted his approval. He quickly shook away the thought and watched the somewhat sappy situation.

"Oh, okay okay, come on guys, were acting like a bunch of chicks!" He knew he ruined the mood and smirked all the more knowing it. "Well, _I_ am going to go get ready to drive this thing outta here!" And with an over-dramatized turn he walked off, smiling to himself all the while. _This is going to be fun,_ he thought. Not only did his brother have a lover, but so did he, and he was a little happy to hear it out loud.

Meanwhile, back in the car, Ludwig let his shoulders relax and felt silently proud that Feliciano had stepped forward to thank Ivan. It was rare to see the Italian be brave, but he had performed well. With a chuckle, he watched his brother walk away, then turned to look at Ivan. The man had shown a bit of emotion by talking about his and Gilbert's relationship, and Ludwig couldn't help but feel better about whom his brother was fooling around with.

"How do you stand him?" Ludwig laughed. "You must have quite the patience." He smiled again and let his broad shoulder brush Feliciano's. The Italian's presence was a warm comfort that he was beginning to get very used to.

"I do," Ivan told him, but mostly because he figured it was easier than trying to explain that the obnoxiousness was part of what attracted him to Gilbert, and also that he had the sort of demeanor that made Gilbert a little subdued around him. "I don't have to use it often, though, since war duties usually keep me from seeing him." Though he suddenly felt slightly sadder, he continued to smile and not show it. "Well... I have to go—I'm supposed to meet up with Toris and the other men from my base before we go off to our own rooms. _Da Svedaniya_!"

He gave them a wave goodbye before sliding the doors shut and walking down the train until his own car, thinking of how he wished he wouldn't have to get off the train at their stop in Poland. Damn his military duties...

Inside the livestock car, Feliciano just stared at the inside of the door for a second or two, then blinked. "For a person fighting against us...," he started to say slowly as he moved back to sit in the hay again, "he's oddly very nice to us."

"...Yeah," Ludwig agreed. In times of war, it was sad to know one couldn't travel to another country without meeting hostility, making what Ivan was doing just that more rare and respected. The German shook his head and stared sadly at a corner of the car before shaking his head, dismissing the thoughts.

"Well, we should change; these suits are a bit of a giveaway," he told Feliciano, taking a moment to look through the sack of clothes. Getting into some nice, clean clothes was sure to put them in a better mood.

"Oh—yeah," he said, realizing he'd sat down for nothing. But he couldn't be upset in any way—they were really escaping now. And besides... he really wanted to get out of the uniform. He wanted to be rid of anything that made him a soldier or connected him to the war he'd been forced into fighting in.

Standing up again, Feliciano immediately and eagerly began to undo the buttons and buckles on his suit and strip down to his boxers—at which he felt very cold, because they were in Russia close to Winter and it was freezing in the train car—and then reach inside the sack that Ludwig was holding and put on casual clothes for the first time in a long time.

Ludwig had watched Feliciano strip out of the corner of his, appreciating the smooth, sun-kissed Mediterranean skin. He remembered just how silky that skin felt under his rough hands and shivered, not because of the temperature either. After Feliciano finished dressing, he began to take his own clothes off. As he worked the many buttons on his jacket, Ludwig couldn't help but replay the love they had made in his mind. His eyes hazed over in thought and his heart beat a little faster.

Feeling refreshed just from the change of clothes, Feliciano smoothed down the cotton and smiled to himself. He then noticed that Ludwig was only just starting to take off his jacket, and he immediately decided, letting out a slight giggle, to go over there with a cheerful spring in his step and help him with the buttons. In his state of bliss, he grinned and leaned his head forward into Ludwig, lightly kissing the German's bare chest.

He smiled, the kisses calming Ludwig and further relaxing his body. Slowly, he let his thick arms slide down and around Feliciano's slim waist, bringing them closer together so he could lay a light kiss on the Italian's forehead, at which he let out another giggle.

He then just kept leaning into Ludwig for several seconds before unbuttoning the last button on the jacket. Reaching his arms up, he put his hands on either side of the jacket collar and slid it off his shoulders and to the ground. Feliciano gave one more kiss to Ludwig's chest before burying his face in it again and saying quietly, stressed happiness in his voice, "We're free..."

Those words and their truth made Ludwig's chest tighten, and he hugged the smaller man closer. They were free, they could do whatever they wanted now with no responsibility.

"Where do you want to live?" he asked suddenly, slipping a warm hand up the back of Feliciano's shirt. He was eager to already plan out their future and he cared not where the boy wanted to live when they made it to Switzerland.

The warm hand on his back was comforting, and he couldn't help but take a moment to just breathe in Ludwig's scent. There was a minute of silence while he thought about the question, softly rubbing circles in the other man's lower back.

"I've never really been to Switzerland except when I rode through it after being drafted, so I can't say I have any specific place in mind... But I know I want us to live in a small town, where there aren't too many people but there's just enough that we're not in the middle of nowhere, and we'll have a whole new life with new neighbors and we can have a vegetable garden and maybe get a cat and have the kind of scenery around us that would be nice to paint..." Feliciano let himself trail off, realizing he might have gotten a little carried away, but his eyes still shining with his dreams for the future.

"It sounds perfect," he laughed at the childlike look in Feliciano's eyes. All Ludwig wanted was to be able to eat meals with Feliciano, for them to talk and have small banter, to make love every night and wake up to start the whole process over again. He could live that everyday for the rest of his life.

Smiling up at Ludwig, he stepped back a moment, as he wanted to look at him more easily and without bending his neck. "What do you want to do when we get there?" he asked, nonchalantly undoing the German's belt so he could take off his pants and get into the other clothes. "I mean, one of us will still need a job for money..."

"I'll do it," he said quickly. Ludwig was determined to be the one to provide for them, and he could do any kind of physical labor. "Maybe we could have a small farm? I could do the plowing and such," he suggested, strongly aware of the nimble fingers working to undo his pants.

Having gotten it off quickly, Feliciano tossed the belt to the side—but into the hay, so the metal part wouldn't clink against the floor and make a noise that might startle the cows in their car. He would have started to pull Ludwig's pants down as well, but he looked down and noticed that the German was still wearing boots, which Feliciano wouldn't have been able to get off for him. So he just let it be and smiled at him.

"Ooh, yes, I love that idea!" he agreed happily, even jumping a little. "And then I could sell what we grow in the market of whatever town we live near... _Oh_—and maybe I could try selling the things that I paint, too! People have actually bought some of my art before..." The smile on his face was growing wider and wider, and everything was getting better in his head by the second.

Ludwig was in awe of how splendid Feliciano looked with that smile and his eyes shining. "I'm sure you paint beautifully," he said, almost a whisper, as he took one of Feliciano's hands into his own and began to kiss it. Kissing his way up, Ludwig inhaled deeply, as if he could satisfy his oxygen needs with the boy in front of him.

Ludwig's kisses on his arm each felt pleasantly warm, especially in the cold train car. Feliciano wanted to keep holding onto him forever, if only to just keep feeling that warmth. His eager smile turned soft as he watched his lover's calm face as he kissed up to his shoulder, and he used his unoccupied hand to caress the side of his face. Somewhat slowly, he moved his hand to tangle his fingers in Ludwig's hair, liking the feel of it when it was dry and neat just as much as he did when it was drenched with sweat and sex.

Ludwig gave a small moan to the hand in his air and lightly nipped at Feliciano's fingers. He worked his way up to delicate shoulders and began to lightly tongue the mark on the Italian's collarbone from earlier. His face tingled pleasantly with the soft touches, and he eagerly pressed himself closer.

Humming in the mild pleasure from the pressure on his collarbone, Feliciano tangled his fingers more deeply in the other's hair for a few seconds, and he then pulled Ludwig's head gently away so that he could kiss him on the lips. It somehow felt like too long since they'd had had a proper kiss...

Ludwig returned the kiss passionately, moving against the other's lips before teasing Feliciano's bottom lip with his tongue. The temperature in the car seemed to be rising, making his back sweat lightly. Leaving one hand in the Italian's hair, Ludwig snaked his other hand down to gently grope a plump cheek, massaging it in his large hand.

He gasped slightly at the sudden squeeze, but then laughed against Ludwig's lips and firmly kissing him once more on his lips before moving down his jawline. Placing more firm kisses on the German's cheek and jaw, he let his hands slide down from his hair to his upper back, hugging it gently and lazily as he enjoyed the bliss and the ability to finally feel so carefree.

Pulling Feliciano up off the floor, Ludwig smiled tauntingly, supporting his weight by placing both hands on his ass. He handled the weight easily, and he was able to free one arm to slide up the front of the other's shirt. Ludwig's hand found a pert nipple and he gently rolled it between his fingers.

Moaning abruptly at the touch, Feliciano's mouth involuntarily broke away from Ludwig's neck, which he'd just begun to kiss. He almost felt like he was about to fall back—but he quickly put his arms around Ludwig's neck to steady himself. Closing his eyes and shuddering slightly at the continued touches, he brought his lips back to the base of Ludwig's neck and kissed upward, stopping when he got to his ear: "Ah... my butt still hurts a little, but... can we just keep… touching?"

Feliciano wanted to be close to him, but he didn't really want to be too sexual right now. He just wanted Ludwig's hands and his soft, gentle touches everywhere.

"Mmhmm," he mumbled, latching his mouth onto Feliciano's Adam's apple and sucking gently. Ludwig had almost forgotten how sore Feliciano had to be, especially since it had been his first time with a man. He gently continued his touches, letting his hands map out the other's body. This touching felt more intimate than the sex in a strange way. It involved the two of them opening up completely to the other and he loved it.

Throwing his head back, he let out a half-moan and bit down on his bottom lip to stifle it. Somehow, it felt different in the train—like it was more public, and so he was slightly more cautious about being heard. Once again, Feliciano's hands wrapped themselves up in Ludwig's hair, pressing his head closer to his neck.

Abruptly, an unexpected increase in speed of the train (had it even been moving before? Feliciano couldn't remember; he hadn't been paying attention to it) jolted them both and made him hold onto Ludwig tighter in slight panic.

Ludwig laughed against Feliciano's ear as he felt the other's grip tighten around him. "Are you scared I will drop you?" he purred, letting his wet tongue glide over the Italian's ear.

He shivered a little in Ludwig's arms and returned the laugh with a smaller, softer one of his own, and then pressed his forehead against the side of the other man's head, near his ear.

"No, I'm afraid the train will make you fall...," he told him, the laugh still sort of in his voice. "We should... lay down, maybe..."

"Mmm… alright," he said softly, sensing the worry in Feliciano's voice. Carefully, he crouched down and situated the man in his lap. Ludwig leaned his head back and closed his eyes. The hay would do for a bed.


	7. Chapter 7

**Short chapter is short. It's also the only one that actually has a time lapse at the end. Enjoy.**

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Glad to be about level with the floor and not in the air anymore, Feliciano smiled a bit sleepily and stretched out a bit, half-lying on top of Ludwig and nuzzling the man's neck with his face. He remembered the last time they had been lying together like that, and it seemed so amazing that, at that time, they hadn't known that they would be on a train to escape together within a few hours. He loosened his grip around Ludwig's neck to lest his arms rest on the German's chest—his _bare_ chest, as it occurred to him just then.

"...Aren't you cold?" he said into Ludwig's neck, lightly rubbing his stomach.

Ludwig smiled at the touches and yawned before nuzzling dark locks. "Not really… I am used to the cold," Ludwig said. In Germany, winters could be brutal, though not as cold as Russia. Still, he could handle himself, and the warm body on top of him helped considerably.

"Hm." He hummed into Ludwig's neck, closing his eyes and just feeling the German's warm neck on his face. "It was usually pretty warm back where I lived in Italy, so I get cold easily..."

For what felt like a minute of silence, Feliciano felt his stomach give a squirm-sort of noise and realized that they had yet to open their bag of food. He was rather hungry, but now that he was in such a comfortable position with Ludwig, he didn't want to get up...

"Hungry?" the German asked and laughed. It did seem like a while since they had eaten, Ludwig's own stomach was pestering him for food.

Laughing as well, Feliciano rolled over onto his back to put his hand on his own stomach and nodded. Still not wanting to sit or stand up, though, he inched down on his back until he could grab both sides of the bag with two feet and then pull it back to them like that. When he could get it up to his arms, he scooted back up to the hay and leaned against it, then opened the bag to see what food Ivan had gotten for them.

"There's a lot of fruit and bread in here... and dried meat," he observed, peering inside and moving stuff around. Feliciano pulled out a loaf of bread and broke it in half, handing one of the halves to Ludwig, and also a bit of the jerky for both of them. "Dinner," he offered, smiling and letting out another laugh.

Ludwig accepted the bread and closed his eyes in a blissful state as he took a bite of the soft bread. This seemed utter perfection. He had food, Feliciano, and a fairly comfortable place to sleep. The German couldn't have asked for anything better—besides maybe some beer. Other than that, he was sure his normally stoic face would split from all the smiling. Not only was Feliciano funny and amusing, he was also beautiful. The Italian's smile almost always made Ludwig's heart constrict with a need just to be closer, and as he thought about this, he allowed himself to move closer.

There was still a part of him that was so unsure of what he was supposed to do, though, and every time Ludwig made a loving move, he felt a slight pang of anxiety that Feliciano would somehow be annoyed with him. Right now, however, he pushed those thoughts aside and let his shoulders loosen.

Feliciano didn't notice Ludwig moving closer at first, though. Oh, it was nice to finally have some food... He felt like he hadn't eaten in forever. Taking a bite of the bread, he gave a small moan of relief and satiated hunger, oblivious to the fact that it might have sounded a bit sexual. And he then felt the warmth on his side increase, and he turned his head to smile softly up at Ludwig. After a second or so, he got an idea and tore a strip of bread away from the loaf. He put one end in his teeth but didn't eat it, and he raised his eyebrows slightly up at Ludwig with an offering look.

Catching the look, Ludwig blushed slightly before leaning down to take the other end. He slowly nibbled until he got about halfway, watching the deep amber eyes. This kind of thing was what couples did, and wasn't that what they were? These small affectionate actions felt so intimate and personal that it was as if sex was less intimate.

This wasn't quite like kissing, so Feliciano didn't close his eyes. He kept them half-open, wanting to watch the beautiful, blue ones across from him. He had never done this before, but he remembered his grandfather (ever the shameless man) once telling him that it was a good thing to do with women. Ludwig wasn't a woman, of course, but he was Feliciano's lover, and he was sure it worked the same. Better, actually.

Nibbling on his end of the bread as well, he eventually came to meet Ludwig's lips halfway, at which he bit off the rest of his end and gave him a slow, soft kiss at the same time.

Despite himself, Ludwig felt his toes curl at the sweet touching of lips and leaned forward to more firmly lock them together. He gently brought a muscled arm to form around Feliciano's smooth waist, tasting the Italian and the bread equally.

Feliciano temporarily forgot about how hungry he still was and set down the bread in his lap so that he could put one gentle hand on Ludwig's shoulder. He returned the kiss and, a minute later, pulled away so smoothly that it felt like it was the perfect time to do so. Giving a soft sigh, he kept his hand on the other man's shoulder and rubbed lightly at his collarbone.

"...I love you, Ludwig," he breathed, for some reason finding that moment perfect. No better feeling could come from anything else in the world—he may have been sitting in a pile of hay in a livestock car of a train with two cows behind them, but they had each other and they were on their way to the safest place in Europe and they had their whole future ahead of them. And... everything was perfect.

Ludwig stopped breathing as something caught in his throat. The way those soft words word were whispered without a doubt made him feel a little headed before he found the use of his tongue. "I love you too, Feliciano," he whispered, pulling the other closer to let their body heat warm them. Ludwig could feel his chest tighten again and this time knew what it was. This feeling was the sheer weight of his words and their truth.

It was rather nice to hear Ludwig say that to him. Once again, Feliciano couldn't shake the feeling that Ludwig was someone whom he'd known for a very long time and loved for just as long. There had been only one person in his life that he could honestly say that he'd loved before, and that was someone he'd never forgotten, someone who he supposed had kept him from loving anyone else all this time—until now. And they had only been children back then...

And suddenly, he was struck with a thought that he couldn't shake. Pressing his cheek to the other man's chest, Feliciano muttered, his tone giving off nothing but innocent curiosity, "Have you ever loved anyone else before, Ludwig?"

"...I don't think so, but I don't remember too much before I was a teenager," he began. "I got into an accident on my brother's farm, a beam dropped on my head. After a few months I was alright, but I couldn't remember much of anything." Ludwig tried not to sound sad and talk flippantly as he spoke. Though the event didn't bother him all that much, he didn't want Feliciano to be upset for him. Instead, the German wrapped both arms around his lover and held him close.

So... Ludwig didn't remember much of his own childhood? That was... sad, at the least. Feliciano wrapped his arms around the other's neck, feeling the need to give him some kind of comfort whether he wanted it or not, but he didn't say anything about it. However, when he was pulled close to him, he felt the bread that was on his lap squish between their stomachs, and he couldn't help but giggle slightly as he took one arm down from Ludwig's neck and pulled the bread out from between them.

Ludwig laughed lightly through a yawn and stretched out his arms and legs. He grunted as he felt his sore back protest and made a face of discomfort. He had landed harshly on it not but a week ago when a grenade had blown up far too close. Though nothing was broken, it still was sore and tender. With a wince, Ludwig reached a hand back to rub at the area.

It didn't go unnoticed by Feliciano, who had just been about to take another bite of the bread. He automatically set it down again, frowning with worry. Ludwig was a tough man—he didn't wince unless he was in a lot of pain.

"What's wrong?" he asked quietly and quickly, pulling a little more away in his worry.

"Nothing." Ludwig quickly shook his head, giving a tight lipped smile. He didn't need the Italian worrying. "My back is just a little sore from the grenade," he muttered, rubbing too hard and hissing slightly.

Remembering the grenade he was talking about, Feliciano cringed a little. At the time that it had actually happened, just the thought of being that close to a grenade when it went off had scared him quite a bit. And now, he just didn't want to think of Ludwig being that close to death. He heard the hiss coming out of Ludwig's mouth and frowned more for a second—but a small idea then came to him, and he felt a lot better.

Slowly working himself out of the German's arms, he said, sounding almost too much like he was giving an order—but not meaning to, "Lay down on your stomach."

Surprised by Feliciano's sudden authoritative voice, Ludwig complied. He flipped over and rested his head on folded arms, watching the Italian out of the corner of his eyes. He sort of liked pushy-Feliciano, but decided to leave that for another time.

Smiling, he shifted himself and lied on his side next to Ludwig so that he could clearly see the side of his face and also reach everywhere on his back fairly well. Feliciano extended his arm a little and began running his cold, soft hand as lightly and soothingly as he could over Ludwig's back, trying to alleviate the soreness.

The relief was near immediate for him as cool hands ran over his back. Already he cloud feel the muscles unwinding and he showed his thankfulness in his eyes as well as he could. Drowsily, Ludwig closed his eyes and let Feliciano have free reign, trusting him enough to let his awareness slip. He knew the Italian would do nothing against him, so there was no reason for him to worry. He let out a low hum of approval and shuddered in enjoyment.

Feliciano could tell how much Ludwig liked it, and that alone made him enjoy doing it so much more. He continued to rub his hand around soothingly, almost starting to lose all but vague awareness himself, with it becoming slower. In spite of the lack of food he'd eaten in the past twenty-four hours, he was feeling more and more tired. But who could blame him, really, after the long day that he'd had?

After some time, Feliciano let his hand slip off of Ludwig's back and carefully used both of his hands to support himself, putting them on either side of the man in front of him. Slowly and carefully, he bent down to place a kiss on the inner edge of Ludwig's shoulder blade, and then a few more down his spine.

"Feels good," Ludwig said sleepily, stretching out more as if to allow Feliciano more of his back. He hadn't ever felt such light, loving touches there and found he rather liked it. As they continued lower, the German made a mental note to try it out on the other at some time, seeing as how soothing and nice it felt. So nice he could just drift off right then...

His lips hovered over Ludwig's spine for a moment, and he decided on continuing the kisses down to the middle of his back before pulling his head back and lying on his side again, returning his hand to his lover's back. Now, though, Feliciano was only rubbing in slight circles, as he was getting too tired to do otherwise. Inching up close to Ludwig, he put his hand lightly on the man's neck and whispered, "Are you asleep?"

Ludwig grunted in reply, too tired to form words. Instead, he cracked an eye, taking in Feliciano's tired eyes before reaching out his arms to pull him closer. Forcing himself, he stretched out to where he could just reach the bag of clothes and pulled out the largest item, a fluffy comforter to wrap around them.

If he'd been awake enough to have coherent thoughts, Feliciano would have been thinking that he hadn't expected Gilbert to bring them a blanket. But even in his extremely tired state, he was grateful for it. Once the blanket was around them both, he felt himself immediately curl up in Ludwig's arms and rest his head in the hay next to him, muttering "_Buonanotte_..." as he drifted off to sleep.

Ludwig smiled and felt the warmth envelop them. He murmured a silent "_Gute Nacht_," before drifting off himself.


	8. Chapter 8

**Last chapter, and my only warnings are the extreme cheesiness overall of this story and the super-fluffy ending. Also, everyone's favorite Swiss makes a guest appearance. **

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Fortunately, their week on the train had gone by very smoothly. Feliciano had half-worried at times that everything was too good to be true and that something might go wrong, but nothing had, and it was evident, especially a couple hours after they had gotten off the train and were walking together down a mountainside road a ways away from the city and train station, that they were truly and completely safe. This was it; they were here, and the new chapter of their lives had officially begun.

They had acquired a map and some information in the city the train had dropped them off in, and they had come to a decision on the town they were headed for. It was relatively close, but Feliciano figured they still had about an hour's walk to get there. The plan was to seek out a piece of property that was for sale, and if they couldn't find one, stay in an inn for the time being.

"...Have you ever been to Switzerland before?" Feliciano thought to ask as they walked, filling in the silence that had existed peacefully between them for a couple minutes.

Ludwig shook his head. "No, so this is new for me as well." The German was glad to finally stretch out his legs and get some exercise after being stuck in that car for a whole week. However, he was wanting for something more than that as well, it had been hard to contain himself the last few nights, but he had succeeded in holding back his urges.

"It's really pretty here," Feliciano commented, looking around at the rolling hills and valleys in the distance, as well as the snow-capped mountains they were walking next to. "We could live on the side of the road and it would still be pretty nice..."

Smiling to himself, he squeezed Ludwig's hand that he was holding onto and leaned slightly into his arm for a second. He kept holding on as they walked on and eventually began humming an Italian song to himself, but he stopped when he noticed a patch of color in the grass that grew to their right—wildflowers. Almost immediately, he let go of Ludwig's hand (since his other one was busy holding his bag) and took a large stride forward, turning around gracefully and grabbing a few of the blue flowers at the same time. Feliciano smiled, his eyes shining a little, as he held it out to Ludwig in an offering fashion.

As usual, Ludwig smiled at Feliciano's antics. He had begun to mind them less and less and was just short of encouraging him. The small hand in his was warm, as was the slight weight the smaller man put on him. Ludwig felt needed, like he was an important support. This made his eyes soften just a bit more, even when Feliciano suddenly pulled away to pick a patch of blue wildflowers. There seemed to be a lot of them here—perhaps living next to the road wasn't such a bad idea?

Ludwig cleared his throat to ask what his lover thought, when he was presented with a handful of the sweet smelling flowers. His face turned crimson and he took them with his free hand. "Thank you," he said quietly. Feliciano always got him to do such embarrassing things.

Giggling a little at the fact that Ludwig was blushing, Feliciano moved back to his side and briefly closed his hand around the one Ludwig was holding the flowers with. "You should put those in your jacket pocket," he said cheerfully, as he still wanted to be able to hold his hand.

"Alright," he nodded and fit the bundle in his shirt pocket. After he had secured the flowers, he reclaimed Feliciano's hand in his own. The scenery was nice out here… hopefully the town they were headed to was just as beautiful.

Feliciano was sure he wouldn't ever find himself in a more blissful state than that, walking along with his lover and humming songs, occasionally singing them as well and being asked what songs they were and failing at trying to get Ludwig to sing any German song that he might have known (Ludwig complied with most things, but singing really wasn't his forte).

After another hour or so of walking (as he'd predicted), they came to what seemed to be the edge of the town. Feliciano could see the lines of houses with thatched roofs and wide, cobblestone streets. It was much different than what he was used to in Italy—but he couldn't quite put a finger on what was so different. It was just... the structure of everything. The houses were built close together and most were the kind with shops at the bottom. Small fields and pastures surrounded some of the houses. These were considerably farther apart but looked to be built the same. Everything was so calm and peaceful and radiating a sense of security. Which was what they had come for.

"Wow..." was all he could say just then.

Once they took their first steps from the dirt road to the stone part of the street, Feliciano turned to Ludwig. "So... what do we do now?"

As the pair neared the houses, the regular bustle of people could be heard and seen, yet it seemed so much more reserved. Ludwig was silent at first and just let his sharp eyes scan for someone who might be able to help them, but decided in the end to just take their time and walk around.

Okay with that, Feliciano followed Ludwig to look at all the shops they passed by, constantly smiling at the beauty of everything. Eventually, though, he decided to be the one to lead, and he pulled Ludwig into an inn that he saw, as he had a good feeling about it.

When they walked inside, they got a few curious looks, and Feliciano almost got nervous before they realized he were just the kind of looks thrown toward an opening door that anyone would give when they heard the bell ringing, and not for any other reason. Ludwig, on the other hand, continued to think the stares were directed at them because of their joined hands and just let it be anyway. He was anything but ashamed of Feliciano, and even if it was embarrassing, he could handle it.

Still holding onto Ludwig's hand (Ludwig let himself be dragged, no matter how weird it felt), Feliciano approached the bar, where a nice-looking (and also relatively young, probably no older than sixteen) lady was writing something down on a bar tab and adjusting the bow in her hair with her other hand at the same time. She looked up just as he was about to speak.

"Hi, I'm Feliciano—and this is Ludwig," he greeted, smiling. "We're new in the area and we heard from someone near the train station a few hours away that there were supposed to be some places for sale around here... Do you know where we might find one?"

Without realizing it, he had turned on the charm that he normally used to flirt with women. Just like all others, he had absolutely no romantic interest in her, but he'd been taught to flirt with women. It was part of being Italian, his grandfather had always said. And he couldn't help it.

Ludwig felt a little sorry for the small Swiss girl, as she looked shy and quiet, while Feliciano talked fast and was loud. Also—Feliciano wasn't flirting, was he? The way he leaned in and locked eyes while talking with her seemed to make it look so. A sudden pang of jealousy worked through his chest, which he worked to ignore as best he could, not wanting to scare the young girl. Ludwig was about to interject when two swinging doors flew open and a Swiss man, looking much like the young girl, burst through with an agitated expression.

As he entered his inn (well, he only owned the rights to the building, but he let his little sister run it), Vash was aware of the people snapping their heads over to him and then looking away just as abruptly. He'd already been thoroughly annoyed after the argument he'd just had with an old friend and the man's wife, but once he saw a man leaning over the bar in front of his sister, he got considerably angrier.

"Lilly!" he said a bit too loudly, marching straight over there and facing (and scowling at) the two men at the bar. "Are these men bothering you?"

Confused, Feliciano stepped back and almost fell back into Ludwig (though he was still leaning into him at this point), putting his hands up in a sign of surrender. "What—no, I swear I didn't do anything!" he assured him, not quite finding the man scary, but sure that he would get hurt if the man thought he was a threat. He looked an awful lot like the girl at the bar... they even had the same haircut.

Instantly, Ludwig forgot about the jealousy and wrapped a protective arm around Feliciano. He didn't like how this man was so quick to jump to conclusions and he sensed an almost military air to him. "Excuse me," he said in way to assert himself. "We were just asking about any available property for sale."

Vash raised an eyebrow at the large man, for a moment much more curious as to why he was trying to buy property with this other man than he was intimidated at all by him. He was clearly German while the other was Italian, so they couldn't have been related... Ah. Yeah, now he knew why. And if his assumptions were true, then they probably hadn't been doing what he'd thought they were doing. But still, the paranoid and over-protective sort of person he was, he didn't fully believe them just yet, and he was just about to say so when—

"Big brother, you don't need to get angry," Lilly finally cut in, having felt awkward just looking back and forth between the three men. "He's telling the truth—and they were being nice. You're always so worried about me, but I _can_ take care of myself, you know." The way the young woman said it wasn't quite annoyed, but just a little exasperated. And she was still smiling. Feliciano looked to her and started nodding frantically, confirming that he and Ludwig were indeed telling the truth.

"Ah... alright, then," Vash agreed, relieved but still reluctant to say that he'd been wrong. He wasn't going to apologize, though. His voice became professional as he looked at them seriously and said, "How much are you two willing to pay for a cottage home, then?"

A small smirk spread over Ludwig's face as he and the Swiss began to talk pricing. He knew finances well and was prepared to get them a good price. "We will need something big enough for two, preferably with a nice plot of land…." All the while, as he spoke, the German kept his thick arm in front of Feliciano's chest, barely noticing.

"Which I have," said Vash, recalling a certain Frenchman who had moved out of there several months ago. He and the German began to discuss the hypothetical price—and once he provided sufficient proof that he did_have_ money and wasn't going to just waste Vash's time, he turned around and jerked his arm upward in a motion for them to follow him.

"Come on, you two. I'm sure you'll want to see the place before you buy it," he told them as he started walking out of the inn, expecting them to follow. But then he turned around for a second to say, "Oh—and Lilly, I'll see you later. I'll make sure to be back before the night shift starts."

Lilly waved back at her brother and smiled widely—was that flirtatiousness or just friendliness?—at Feliciano as he started to leave, bidding him and Ludwig goodbye as well.

Ludwig nodded and followed, pulling Feliciano with him. He still wasn't all too pleased with the flirting, but they could discuss it later. Walking along the town road, the group came to a lovely little cottage built into a hill. It was two stories and was much wider at the top, wide wooden beams supporting it. The house was a soft cream with dark wooden shingles. It looked excellent, including the surrounding land. However, there was one deciding factor.

"What do you think?" he asked softly.

Feliciano continued staring up at the cottage for a moment before his look of awe quirked into a little smile, and he turned around at once, quickly pressing his face into Ludwig's arm in his uncontainable excitement. "It's completely and utterly _perfect_," he said, his voice going slightly higher pitched because of his happiness. He hugged Ludwig tightly around his middle for a couple seconds before looking to Vash and asking, "Can we go inside?"

The Swiss avoided looking at the two of them while they were being all lovey-dovey, and when Feliciano asked his question, he gave him a simple and quick "Yes, sure," along with a single nod. As the Italian pulled his lover up to the house to open the door at once, though, Vash stepped forward and said a bit more loudly than his usual voice, "The old owner never took all of his stuff with him, though, and he was kind of... well. There might be pornographic stuff lying around. I haven't checked."

With that, he remained standing outside the house, thinking that today was a good day, if only for moneymaking. He'd been a bit low on funds lately and had needed someone to buy some of the property that he owned... Otherwise it was worthless to him.

Other than the disturbing reminder from Vash, the place seemed perfect. This was mostly because Feliciano loved it so much, but all in all it seemed nice. Inside, Ludwig raised his brow at how large it seemed. The wide beams they had seen outside also supported the bottom floor roof, giving off a darker shine. The walls were also painted a soft brown with accompanying black wood furniture. All of this was just seen through the front door, and already the German was marking out how they could work a well made and efficient shop out of it.

"Let's go upstairs," he said, pulling his lover toward the winding staircase. It seemed like someone very extravagant must have lived here, but they could always redecorate.

He wouldn't admit to himself why he was so eager to go upstairs, but he was blushing at it all the same. Ludwig was eager to know which room would mark their bedroom.

At Ludwig's suggestion, Feliciano nodded and followed him eagerly. He wanted to see more of the house they were going to live in—that they were going to likely spend the rest of their lives together in. He had expected a much smaller place, and this was all just... magnificent. It wasn't anywhere near the size of the house he'd grown up in, but it was more than enough for him and Ludwig.

There seemed to be only one room on the upstairs, and Feliciano pushed open the door to find a rather large attic bedroom, furnished only with an empty bed frame (that actually still seemed usable) and a single dresser. There were, however, a couple magazines scattered on the floor...

"Oh—there's the pornography," he said bluntly but in almost a laugh, kicking it away before stepping further inside and looking out the large window on one side of the room.

Ludwig huffed a little, picking up the magazines and placing them on the lone dresser without looking at their covers. The window view was quite nice, opening up on the lush fields and a small shed. Lightly, he allowed his chin to rest on Feliciano's head. They could easily buy a mattress, but the bed frame was rather large. Luckily the dresser was quite large and could hold all of their clothes. Ludwig thought hard, wanting to immediately find whatever they needed and get it, though there was still the price of the place. Ludwig did have the money, and it was a very cheap, but he would need to find a job immediately to support them.

Feliciano hummed and closed his eyes, feeling Ludwig's chin on his head and suddenly feeling like this place was already home. Bending his head back, he reached up and pulled the other's man's head downwards for a short, upside-down kiss.

"Ah... I can't believe this is going to be _our_house," he said quietly, loving being able to say _our_. It was strange to think that the idea of sharing his life with someone hadn't occurred much to him before. Even stranger that he would be spending it with someone he couldn't legally marry or have children with. But... he didn't care. It would be the best life he could have ever dreamed of.

Ludwig returned the kiss gently and hummed in agreeing, this was _their_home. There many things he knew he couldn't give Feliciano, like children, but he would make sure he did everything in his power to give his love to the man. He turned the other and connected their lips again, letting his tongue probe at the other's soft lips. His hands were occupied by wrapping firmly around the Italian and pulling him close.

Feeling his chest grow unfathomably warm, Feliciano smiled against Ludwig's lips and returned the kiss with fervor. Eventually pulling away about an inch, he rubbed the back of Ludwig's neck and pressed their noses together, staring up at him with half-lidded eyes. "Mmm... I can't wait to make love to you in this bedroom, Lud—"

"I take it you're buying the house, then?" said a bored voice from the doorway, interrupting them and startling Feliciano almost completely out of Ludwig's arms. Vash was looking away from them, but he had arrived in the middle of their kissing. Figuring that they had stopped, he turned to face them, looking annoyed.

Quickly side-stepping, Ludwig cleared his throat and moved forward, removing an old wallet and writing out a bank note. His accounts were luckily under Gilbert's name, so the military would not be able to intervene and cut it off. He handed it over to Vash, face still slightly red from being caught in such an embarrassing activity. The rest of his money was still tucked firmly in a small pouch lying in the bags he had sat down, that would be enough for them to get by until he could find a job.

"Uh—thank you," Ludwig said awkwardly, holding out his hand.

Expressionlessly, Vash took the note and looked at it for a second. He then looked back to Ludwig and saw the extended hand, at which he extended his own and said, sounding slightly pleased, "You're welcome. You two can go ahead and stay here, start bringing your stuff in and moving the old owner's stuff out—or keep it, I don't really care. I'll have the official papers for you sometime within the week. If this note turns out to bounce, though, just know that I'll kick you out." He said this all as-a-matter-of-factly, all the while moving back toward the door. "Oh—and... good luck to you both, I suppose." With that, he left altogether, closing the door, and was out the front door within the minute.

"So...," Feliciano started, staring the door, "it's officially ours now." It wasn't a question; he just wanted to say it out loud.

"Y-yes," Ludwig was unsure of whom he had directed that toward, but it didn't really matter. In such a short time, he had succeeded in being the happiest he had ever been. The German's stomach felt light and, if it weren't for his pride, he might have jumped for joy. Instead, he settled for a large smile and turned to look at Feliciano. None of this would be happening if not for him—he gave it all meaning. Their eyes met and he let his breath catch at those ever beautiful amber eyes, filled with as much excitement as his own.

Literally everything was set in place for them, and Feliciano wanted to bask in the perfection. What felt like forever passed in a second as he gazed into Ludwig's eyes, and it seemed like slow motion that he moved to grasp his lover's hand in his and squeeze it tightly, as though in triumph. Pressing a firm kiss to the back of Ludwig's hand, he held it to his heart and looked up at him.

"Well... we have everything to do. Where do you want to start?"

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**And thus concludes the only multichaptered fic I have ever finished. That was a lot of the reason I wanted to turn the RP into a fic in the first place... Well, and the fact that my boyfriend wanted me to post it. Either way, I'm proud of myself. And if you liked it, please review! :D (Now I can finally get onto my other stories...)**


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